A New Hero
by Stxhli
Summary: A new arrival among the Vault Hunters ranks has caused dispute among the Crimson Raiders. His age surprises them all, but not as much as his experimentally created abilities.
1. 1 - A New Hero

**Okay, so I haven't played Borderlands 2 in a while. Or used this site ever. Or even written a story, come to think of it, excluding the 5 minute changing of a book the teacher would never of heard of before that I submitted as homework. So I apologise for any mistakes, in writing or in etiquette to this site. I can't really say what's in store, the first few chapters came from dream that was preceded by a Bleach and Naruto marathon, hours on the game, and an unmeasured amount of alcohol. Also, I have never played as Krieg, so it makes it difficult to push him into the story, so I won't. Any mistakes, feel free to call me up on, and i'll attempt to rectify the mistakes. And I cannot be bothered with Zer0's haikus, they irritate me beyond belief. They're cool in game, but trying to write them just blankets you in a new respect for anyone who has ever written speech for him.**

* * *

The breath felt heavy in his lungs, clawing at the inside of his chest, its icy tendrils threading their way up to his throat. Okay, maybe blasting a herd of bloodthirsty bandits was a necessity, but if he'd have saved just a little bit of energy to project a field around himself, take the edge off of the dropping temperature, the journey could've been a lot easier. But hey, he'd been on the road for a long time now, and getting on to Sanctuary would be possible from Overlook, which was already clear in his vision. Stopping for a second, taking a deep breath, and focusing on Overlook, his form flickered before turning to a black smoke. It may have scared the residents of overlook when the very same smoke appeared, as little as it may be, before clearing no more than a second later to reveal him on his hands and knees, panting like a skag left in the heat.

* * *

'Hey, Hammerlock!' Gaige shouted from her stool across the bar. 'Hurry up and give us the news, or I'm gonna have to ditch!'.  
'Calm down, ma'am. I hate to repeat myself, as you all well know, and as much respect as I have for all of you, even before the felling of that violent fearmonger, it makes the situation quite a measure easier if we waited for your last companion to arrive. Speak of the devil...'  
Zer0 calmly walked in, his recent favourite hung from his back, its scope resting against his shoulder blade with the giant letters spelling out 'Maliwan' emblazoned on its side in its signature font. Without a word, he slid around and onto his stool, between Axton and Salvador, the latter of whom was always forced to the end during any meeting that involved even the slightest formality.  
'Oh good, you're group is complete, at last!'. Perhaps this was Hammerlock's take on sarcasm. 'Or not, as the case may be. I have received word of new addition to your vault-hunting ranks, he should be here shortly, though it has taken a while. It seems he is the only person alive on Pandora who would rather walk'.

'Rather..walk?' asked Zer0. Even with the synthesiser in his helmet making only the most extreme of shifts in his tone apparent, his interest was obvious. This was a complete change from the cool, collected assassin everyone had come to know, and their stares drilled into the back of his head, which had turned to face Hammerlock. 'I don't suppose his name is J...'  
'Jack' completed Hammerlock. This earned a glare from everyone, though he couldn't quite handle it in the oblivious way that Zer0 had.

'Not that Jack, I can assure you of that. In fact, i'm pretty sure he had as much reason for hating Handsome Jack as you do.'  
'Oh, is that so? He murdered Roland, Bloodwing, near-tortured his own daughter, and held me captive. Even tried to force me into killing you guys!' Lilith almost shouted, slamming her palms into the table. 'How, Hammerlock, could he possibly hate him as much as we do?'  
Hammerlock opened his mouth to reply, but was beaten to it by Zer0.  
'He was captured by Hyperion, along with his family. They experimented on him, trying to create a perfect weapon. He was the only one who stayed together during the experiments, the other children around him succumbing to the power and dying almost instantly. This was all headed by Handsome Jack, without authorisation.'  
This, yet again, earned stares from his teammates. Zer0 never spoke this much. And even when he spoke, it was normally in haiku. This was completely out of character. And how did he know this Jack kid anyway?

'Ahem' Hammerlock coughed politely. 'Zer0 is quite correct. Jack became a vault hunter because upon escaping with his family at the age of 12, they attempted to turn him in to Hyperion in return for immunity from future oppression, and he was forced to kill them. Quite a tragic story, but a vault hunter at 12 is impressive.'  
Zer0 shook his head. 'Not a vault hunter. He became an assassin. Worked with him a while'.  
Gaige counted off the syllables on her fingers. '5,7,5. Technically a haiku'. She shrugged. 'Though not a very good one. I'm disappointed in you Zer0'.  
Lilith sat with an expression hung on her face that came somewhere between a realisation of her own stupidity and rashness, and grief from the memories of the abundance of recent loss. She turned to Moxxi to ask for a drink, but the busty patrons attention was elsewhere.  
'Hey Sugar' she greeted the new arrival.  
'Hey' came a hoarse reply. The stranger was either too tired to check out Moxxi's figure, or too focused. He leant against the bar and ordered a bottle of rakk ale.  
Gaige looked him up and down. He was about six foot, a little taller than herself, despite being two years her junior. His light brown fringe arced from above his right eye down,just covering the about a third of his left eye. His right eyebrow was pierced with a bar,the two balls just visible through the thin strands of much shorter hair playing out in the corner of his face, and his right ear was also pierced with a simple, black, plastic circle. On closer inspection to his head, Gaige noticed his hair was actually a dark brown, but was highlighted with a light blonde, making it all seem a lot lighter.

'Sorry Sugar, but I can't serve to a minor' Moxxi didn't look the slightest bit apologetic, until the stranger slipped 50,000 dollars into her tip jar, barely fitting in even in the $1000 bills. She hesitated. 'Maybe just this once'. Popping open a bottle, she slid it along the bar.  
'Cheers' he muttered, downing a third of the bottle in one gulp, before turning. Realisation hit him like a bullet, and his head snapped up. 'Zer0?!'

Zer0 nodded before replying simply 'Hello, Jack'. He stood, walking past his team, and shook his hand. 'It's been a while. You look...unwell'.  
'Yeah, but those bloody bandits on the way here look worse'.  
'Which ones?' piped up Gaige, glad to have someone younger around, if only slightly. 'Excluding the Slabs, there's still the Bloodshots, the Rippers...hell, there must be 30 or 40 now that Handsome Jacks gone. Though what kind of bandit was afraid of joining a faction when he was around? I mean, come on.' She laughed. 'They have to live with Psychos all the time. If they're brave enough for that, they're brave enough for Jack.'  
Jack leant back on his stool, taking a few seconds to count, before shrugging. 'All of them'.


	2. 2 - First Day On The Job

**amorgan6704 - Thanks for pointing that out, I've gone through and changed it where I could in chapter 2+3, feel free to point out any more mistakes. Unfortunately, it's an awful habit I picked up from a rather under-qualified English teacher, along with the inability to choose wether the punctuation goes in or out of the speech. Yes, I know it should be in, but 3 years with it in your face and it just grows on you.  
**

**Apologies for the under-described next couple of chapters. As you can tell, I've just kinda sped typed them throughout the day due to being busy and not having time to do any in the next couple days, combined with pure impatience. Thanks for reading.**

* * *

Jack had settled in, making fast friends with the other vault hunters, though they did seem to talk down to him. The only ones who kept away from this blatant temptation was Zer0, who had seen Jacks ability in a fight, and Gaige, both through the mutual suffering of being a young vault hunter, and through his last comment before leaving Moxxi's.

"Alright guys" Lilith's voice came from the doorway. "Just got a message. A contact's found a weapons bunker where Atlas stored the weapons that weren't trusted to General Knoxx way back. The armoury's been running a bit low, and any leftovers could be sold or traded with the friendly neighbourhood gun merchant,' She rolled her fiery orange eyes. "In any case, we need Mordecai, Zer0, and Jack on sniper duty, if that's okay with you guys?" All three nod back in response. "The rest of you will be clearing from the front. Brick is busy putting the Slabs in their places after the incident at Opportunity last week, so it's you seven on this one. Hyperion have probably got bots going there already, so corrosive weapons ready. Understood?"  
"Yes Mum." The sarcasm drooled like venom from Axtons jaws, and Salvador let out a hearty laugh.  
"Yeah ,señorita. We've done this before" He said, placing his hands on his knees and pushing himself up, though it did little to alter his height.  
"I know, I know. But just making sure the new recruit knows what's going on" She shot a smile at Jack.

"Okay, amigo, this is our stop" called Mordecai seconds before they came to a halt. It was lucky Jack was sat behind in the Bandit Technical, as facing forwards stripped the oxygen from the mouth and made talking impossible. Maybe Zer0 couldn't drive safely, but he could drive fast.  
Mordecai knelt on edge of the cliff they'd arrived on, his attempt at getting a view of the area was rewarded with a face full of kicked-up dust. Over the ridge, a 70 foot drop ended with a large, flat area, already set up with Hyperion barricades and loaders. The walls were a reddy-brown, that colour you always ended up with when trying to paint earth in primary his 10 o'clock sat a untouched,silver door, about the height of the Crimsons Raider's HQ, and three times the width, sticking out like a sore thumb against the dilapidated walls.

"Hey chicos, found the target. Our little team should be down there any second."

There were barely 20 loaders, but they all knew Hyperion would simply fire more at their location. Mordecai decided to check their gear.  
His pride and joy, a curved, blue, slag sniper rifle, lay on a oil-stained rag on the ground behind him, ready for action. Zer0 crouched, not even five metres away, eye (or helmet) to the scope, scouting the area out. The rifle was a boring brown colour, the one he'd had when Jack first arrived. It didn't look much, but Zer0 assured them it was a corrosive weapon, and with being a Maliwan, Mordecai couldn't find any reason to argue. Thinking of Jack, Mordecai hit himself in the face with the palm of his hand.  
"Amigos, I think we have a slight problema" he stated to everyone over ECHO.  
"Jack doesn't seem to have a rifle on him"

"OOOOH, facepalm!" Gaige giggled in response, intoxicated with the adrenaline rushing through her body in response the anticipation.

"Si, but two snipers is fine" Salvadors gruff voice reasoned. "I'll be blasting them to bits anyway!". Yep, sounded like the angry midget the team had got used to.  
"Actually.." Jacks voice came from the ECHO system. He grinned, opened his right hand, and a sleek, black rifle with luminous green veins running along from the tip of the barrel, splitting above the handle into three, with one each running around through the trigger loop, up to and accenting the rim of the butt of the gun, and up and around the end of the scope nearest to Jack, digitized in his hand. "...I do."  
"Okay amigo, but how did you do that? And how are you using your ECHO? I can see both your hands."  
Jack simply tapped his nose twice with his free index finger, before pointing to the earpiece in his right ear, which was originally facing away from Mordecai.  
"Guys" came Axtons voice. "ETA 20 seconds, get in position".  
All three snipers laid down, readying themselves in their positions and aiming down their sights. Mordecai shook the little trick of Jacks from his head. Sure, he'd never seen someone use the digistruct system like that, but there was time for that later. The two Light Runners, one carrying Gaige and Maya, the other carrying Axton and Salvador, pulled into the clearing via the only path leading from the dusty canyon. Salvador jumped out, a torgue assault rifle held in one hand, and a bandit made SMG in the other, already blowing off a long-pent-up aggression that only the hunter's favourite midget could muster. Gaige summoned Death Trap, whom automatically headed towards the nearest loaders. Maya brandished a Maliwan shock SMG, and headed round the right of the barricades, left arm raised, and tattoos glowing in preparation to phaselock. Axton sprinted to the left and threw his turret, which stuck to the wall and started firing off rockets and bullets.

This all happened simultaneously, and with all three snipers firing off at the remainder, the loaders were soon reduced to nothing but scrap metal.  
"Nice shooting chico" Mordecai called to Jack, who had managed to score 3 critical shots consecutively on two war loaders and a gun loader. The kid might be young, but he might also be good enough to keep up with himself and Zer0. "Watch out, more incoming!".  
A scatter of machines hit the ground with a whistling noise, their velocity piercing the air, despite their thick build. Against the already-fighting vault hunters, they were defeated in seconds.  
"OOOH YEAH!" Gaige shouted, raising her fist to the air. Axton and Salvador both started cheering to, with Maya just shaking her head. Their celebration, as well as Mordecai's string of excited swearing, was interrupted by more of Hyperion's robots.  
"What? Somethings wrong" panted Axton, falling back to use the vehicles as cover. His turret needed recharging, as did Death Trap. Salvador was too out of breath to gunzerk for long, and Maya was, as she so politely put it, "knackered like a skag in shit". Axton didn't quite get the expression she'd conjured from nowhere, but the point was clear. "They never send this many."  
Wave after wave hit them, advancing past a comfortable distance. Mordecai, Zer0, and Jack aimed and took down as many as possible, Mordecai's slag rifle hitting the stronger enemies, giving Zer0 and Jack's damage a boost. Both seemed to be only taking one bullet to take down each loader, which was to be expected from Zer0, but quickly shifted Mordecai's opinion of Jack.  
"Reloading!" Mordecai called. His rifle may be powerful and have a large magazine, but it took a good three or four seconds to reload. He looked left, hearing Zer0 echo his call, and watched as he pulled out a another magazine for his rifle as well. Looking down, he felt his gut dip.  
The four vault hunters below were trying their hardest, but without the support from turret or Death Trap, or Maya or Salvador's abilities, they were being forced back quickly. Eight of the loaders were already past the Runners, two of them towering over Gaige, about to strike. They didn't need ECHO to hear her scream.  
A sharp inhale from his right, and twelve shots. Mordecai stared, open mouthed, as the eight loaders, plus five more, dropped the floor in just under a second. It's impossible to shoot that fast, especially with that accuracy. He just turned his head to Jack, and watched. He calmly reloaded, looked down the sight, and shot another twelve. This time none of them managed to catch more than one, but another twelve down. Whoever this kid was, he was taking down the bots faster than both Mordecai and Zer0 could.  
"I told you. Assassin." Zer0's voice pulled Mordecai's attention away. "Don't worry, when he's focused like this, I've seen him take more. Just put your gun down, keep relatively quiet, and don't distract him."

Four magazines later and all the loaders were down.

"WOOH, great shooting guys! So, who got the most kills?" Gaige asked.

"Jack" both Mordecai and Zer0 replied.  
"Hahaha, seriously?" Axton asked.  
"No, seriously. The last 60 or so were all him." Mordecai replied

'WHAT?' the vault hunters replied. This was followed by a deep laugh from Salvador. "Little amigo got moves!"  
"Eh..guys..you hear that?". Maya was facing the door, her smile slowly dropping. "Sounds like..."  
"GET DOWN"


	3. 3 - Teamwork

**Okay, under-described again, i know. I'll try to use more adjectives in future. I know Jack is completely overpowered in the scheme of things,but i plan to introduce a huge weakness before long. I dunno, any ideas from readers? Maybe an embarassing inability to use any other weapons, and/or needing 12 hours between each outburst. Any ideas welcome/**

* * *

"GET DOWN"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

"NO WAY"

"RETREAT".

The only one of the four on the front line who wasn't screaming and shouting was Salvador. The gunzerker just stood, staring at the menacing figure of a giant loader.

"Is that...Saturn?!" They'd already defeated the giant loader before, though barely. With this little ammunition, and their powers and resources drained, they didn't have much hope. Sure, they had the New-U system to back them up, but they had no desire to lose money from respawning, and with the amount of bandits going head to head constantly, the New-U was constantly in use, and the chance they'd respawn inside someone else, or with slight deficiencies such as not having a mouth, being completely inside out, or both, have increased. So, not something they want to happen.  
Mordecai covered his eyes for a second, and muttered under his breath.  
"Shit shit shit shit..."  
"Jack." Zer0 said calmly. "Remember the second joint contract?". Jack grinned.  
"Hyperion prototype invading on Torgue property? Hell yeah!". As he said this, his rifle disassembled, to be replaced by a giant, plasma-edged sword.  
Seven feet long, with a straight edge which started to curve to meet the back, and a semi-circular hole cut from the back about a foot from the tip. A circular hole also sat close to the handle. God knows that they were for, but Mordecai didn't care. He just reached out a hand, and called.  
"_Idiota, _where are you going?"  
The grin Jack replied with sent a shiver down his spine.  
"To fuck shit up."

With that, he disappeared into black smoke. Mordecai looked around, then spotted his reappearance between his four team mates on the ground, and the giant loader. He would have made another comment, but after the display with his rifle, Mordecai thought better.  
To his left, Zer0 looked down the scope, waited for Jack's signal, and held his breath. Jack threw his sword into the air, just in time for Zer0's bullet to hit it. Thankfully it did no corrosive damage, and the sword spun, a slight blue plasma tinge trailing it's pattern through the air, spinning into the gargantuan robots leg. Jack jumped onto the handle, not just using it as a springboard, but also wrenching it's leg off entirely. He shot upwards, landing with his fist cleanly its head. Large sparks flew as Jack dropped down, bringing what remained of the robots head with him.  
"G'shot Zer0!" He called, raising the robots head above him. He then turned and, with all his might, launched the robots head at the doors. The join at the centre of the two doors began to crumple, giving way to it's incredible mass. By now Jack was panting like everyone else, absolutely drenched in sweat."Okay guys. Break time."

* * *

"This loots great!". Lilith was surprised. Sure, Atlas were ahead of the times when it came to weaponry, but General Knoxx's armoury was destroyed soon after the first vault, about four years ago. By now this should be outdated, and going after it had been a shot in the dark, but it had paid off, big time. Fourteen shields, well over fifty guns, and close to half a million dollars was far from the worst loot they'd received for half a days work. Her only possible complaint was that, while all completely clean and spotless like most Atlas tech, also like Atlas tech they lacked much elemental power. Out of the fifty or so guns, only a shining blue revolver, with a disproportionately large scope, and red triangles accenting the corners of the handle and barrel, a dark red 'spinigun' (Mordecai's term, not hers) with two green, obviously-corrosive water drops decorating the right side, just under the sight and above the trigger, and a light blue SMG with a cross as a sight reticule. The only hint that the latter, like the first, was an incendiary firearm, was the red tinge to the cross, and the red trigger. Or without test firing it, anyway. Which, incidentally, they had done already.  
"Yeah. And wait til you see this". Mordecai handed her a tape. Using her upgraded ECHO, Gaige had managed to catch Jack and Zer0's stunt on video. Lilith watched it through three or four times, before facing Mordecai.  
"Whaa...How?" She just stared.  
"I dunno señorita, but he's just as good with a rifle."

Lilith grinned "Wonder where he learnt how to do that".Their minds cast back to the conversation at Moxxi's. It must be a result of Hyperion's experimentation. So, what else could he do? "Where is he?" She asked Mordecai.  
"Crashed on the couch" He replied. "Musta taken it out of him, saving all our shit-soaked asses twice in a day."

Lilith stood on the balcony and looked towards the centre of Sanctuary before turning and walking down the stairs. "Hey killer" she joked, smiling at Jack. "Where's everyone else?"

Jack was sprawled on the couch, wearing dark blue jeans with a plain leather belt with a square silver buckle, and a light grey hoodie. His right hand had some kind of bandage or support on it, but Lilith chose to ignore it.

"Moxxi's, celebrating" He sat up, holding his head. "Mind if I smoke in here?"  
"Go ahead" She replied, taking a seat. "I want to talk to you about your...fighting style, should we say". She couldn't get much of a response to that, as he was too busy trying to breathe smoke out of his mouth and in through his nose at the same time. This resulted in little more than an uncomfortable sneezing fit. "Urgh...could you explain your abilities a bit?"  
"Sure." Said Jack, leaning back, before making eye contact. "I'm ridiculously agile for my height. Nothing to do with training, it just happens. I'm actually incredibly lazy,I can set things on fire by looking at it, digistruct my weapons, teleport short distances, among other things. Though it's kinda like over using eridium from what I can figure. It takes a while to recover."

Lilith raised her eyebrow. "Other things?"  
"Yeah. Though, you get to find that out later". He winked and stood up  
'Hey..Jack?' Gaige poked her head through the front doorway. "Want to join us? We can't celebrate today without the hero. You too Lilith, your find, you know?"  
Lilith and Jack looked at each other before shrugging.  
"Sure."

* * *

"A-and then I said", stumbled Mordecai, "I-i said, you were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!"  
All present laughed, though wether it was funny, or they were all just rat-arsed, they couldn't quite tell. They had two booths opposite each other near the entrance facing towards Scooter's, with Jack, Gaige, Lilith and Zer0 sharing one, and Axton, Maya, Salvador, and Mordecai sharing the other. Moxxi wondered over, the eight present making up over half of the current customers.  
"Can I get you anything, pet?" She asked, leaning on the back of the seat. Even though she used the singular, it was clear it was meant for everyone.  
"Rakk Ale!" piped up Mordecai, Salvador, and Axton at almost exactly the same time. Moxxi giggled, then turned her attention to the other booth.  
"And you guys?"  
"Water" said Jack, attempting to keep relatively sober after three bottles of the vile ale.

Zer0 shook his head, Gaige asked for rakk ale, and Lilith ordered three pizzas.  
"What?" she asked when everyone looked at her. "Girls gotta eat."

Gaige took a swig of the ale and instantly turned a bright green. She stood up and ran to the exit, before violently rejecting the contents of her stomach on to the street side. Jack appeared beside her, patting her back with one hand and stop the lively red pigtails from diving overboard. By the time she'd finished, she was shivering.  
"Thanks" she said, leaning against the wall. "Sorry, this is embarrassing".  
"We all learn, one way or another". He laughed. "Don't worry about it, but you need to get back."

Gaige looked at him. Despite being a year and a half younger, he was by far more mature, and she couldn't hold back a smile. "Thanks..really."


	4. 4 - Gaige's Feelings

**Okay, largely filler chapter. I don't know where i'm going at all, so I guess now there's a spark between Jack and Gaige. I dunno, just chucking in more opportunities for where this is leading I suppose, and as much as I hate to make this all romancey, it makes things easier for me. But I hate nothing more than a short, straight story, it's no fun whatsoever. The next chapter may or may not take a few days simply because even in the spare hours I have, my constant tapping irritates everyone beyond belief, and a bit of consideration's needed.**

* * *

Jack took Gaige back via Dr. Zeds, in hopes of getting something as a kind of pick-me-up. He hadn't yet had the pleasure of meeting the infamous doctor, if only in name, but he was sure he couldn't be as bad as everyone said. This train of thought, however, was crashed shortly after.  
"What the..." His eyes darted from the blood soaked walls, to the flickering lights, and down to the floor that was nearly glowing with what looked like slag. The dirt tracked in didn't seem to have been cleaned in years, and even breathing felt like funnelling an endless supply of unwanted germs into his body. Normally, it wouldn't bother him, but at a doctors? Possibly putting his life in the hands of this bug-infested crap hole made him cringe.  
"What can I do you for"

"Oh..er..hi. Have anything to cure a headache?"

"Well son, try this" Zed said, passing him a packet of pills. "Hey, you're the new vault hunter right? Free of charge, your compadres done by far enough to pay for it."

"Cheers mate, have a good one."  
The cool night air slapped him across the face. Not one of those slaps that lets you know you're in trouble. More like one of those slaps that sets the nerves on fire, and lets you know you're alive. Jack stood in silence for a while, the sounds of Sanctuary drifting to meet his ears, the disputes of families, the drunken laughter from Moxxi's, even the crying of a baby. Okay, maybe not the most pleasant sounds. But it was home now, and that was something he was eternally greatful for.

"There you are!" Gaige was jumping up and down, or trying to. She had to lean on the door for support, the alcohol having much of an effect on her system than she'd ever admit. "I thought you'd left me for a second there."  
"Oh please, what kinda guy would that make me?"

"A normal one..."

"Well that was a response forged by the actions of many unrespecting idiots.' He sighed. After helping Gaige to the couch and closing the door, he offered her one of the pills, which she gratefully accepted.  
"Thanks. Again."  
He laughed. "It's fine, seriously, stop thanking me so much. I'm part of this team now, if you guys will have me, and I'm more than willing to pull my weight."  
"We're vault hunters, not nurses. Taking care of me isn't in the job description."

"Yeah, or maybe I just have habit of helping beautiful women in need" He winked. "Now, off to bed. If you need anything, I'll be up for a while".  
Gaige got up and headed to the stairs before turning to Jack. "Jack?"

"Yeah?"  
He might be a trained assassin on par with Zer0, but that couldn't have prepared him for what came next. She stepped towards him, wrapper her arms around him, and planted a gentles kiss on his cheek. "You're a lovely guy. You're gonna make a very lucky girl very happy some day".  
Good thing it was dark by this time of night, because being able to see each other blush would've made things a heck of a lot more awkward. And they were rapidly charging to the top of that scale already.

* * *

"I should've brushed my teeth or something first" groaned Gaige late the next morning. "I just kissed a boys cheek..after throwing up. Oh God no."  
Lilith, nursing her hangover in the corner, let out a laugh, before clutching her head and instantly regretting the decision to make any noise at all. "Romantic, Gaige. So, who was the lucky guy?"  
She thought back to last night, how Jack had taken her back to the HQ, and put two and two together pretty quickly. "Ooh err, you work fast." This was followed by another quick laugh, then more groaning as she remembered alcohol and noise doesn't mix well.

* * *

Since Rolands death, the vault hunters had decided to extend the building slightly. The buildings to the left and right had been bought, and kind of merged with the HQ. The upstairs of the properties had become bedrooms, the stairs granting access to the lower levels having been destroyed, and the holes covered up. The girls had a bit more space, despite being only three of them (or four, when Tiny Tina came to stay). With there being Axton, Zer0, Mordecai, everyone's favourite beserk midget, and now Jack, the little less space often felt like a lot. However, Jack and Zer0 spent little time in there, especially Zer0, and this made the space more comfortable. The boys room is situated to the left as you walk towards the room containing the holograph-holding pedestal in the center, or 'control room', as it had been dubbed, with the girls being on the right. Not the most sensible place for mass sleeping grounds, what with it being right next to the Raider's equivalent of a conference room, but with the bank vault being in the next room, going through that part of the wall was impossible.  
The downstairs was just...a mess. 'Particia's side' was, much like her small 'office' before, a dark, slightly musky patch of the building, that smelt like mold, urine, and bacon. Though complained about the bacon smell constantly, it made being around her even that slight bit more bearable. Her loyal ceiling chair,Clork, had stayed in position, on guard as he apparently was, and when she gently ran her finger along the what would be the top of its back rest should it be positioned how gravity intended, she was rewarded with a spray of dust that had settled atop the base of the seat.  
"Oh, Clork. When was the last time you washed? Seriously, you're beginning to degrade to the levels of hygiene one would associate with bandit hooligans."

Opposite Tannis' side, at the base of the stairs, a meter wide doorway had been made shoddily, the edges twisted and torn from the second rate equipment used to form its being, and stained with the blood of the money-hungry fool who thought using it would be a good idea. It was lucky Gaige offered Death Trap's assistance to do the bedrooms, he only had nine more fingers left to lose.  
This area functioned as a living room, a place for the vault hunters to crash between missions, and just generally relax. At first the girls had been a bit reluctant to use it, with both the couch and mis-matched chair being adopted from the nearest bandit camp, but once they'd assaulted it with an onslaught of products guaranteed to remove stains and scent, they'd finally become comfortable using them. The table was a simple affair, level with the seating at around two feet from the floor, made of wood, and already smothered in a variety of marks from spilled beverage and meal alike. To anyone else, as Hammerlock had pointed out many times, it looked beyond uncoordinated; a brown wooden table had no place in the middle of a room lined with metal, and next to the sickly green sofa, although under different circumstances it may have complimented the reddy-brown chair, despite its constant coat of dust. It might not be perfect, and everyone agreed it was far from such, but it was home.  
The only problem with these arrangements, besides the unappealing visual appearance, was the heat. The equipment upstairs could generate a high temperature, and the door would often be left open to counter this, as it was the buildings only ventilation. It hadn't been long since all of this, only a few months since the Handsome fiend's downfall, so it was only imaginable what the warmer weather would bring. (That and, even with everyone's brains put towards the project, a kitchen was still missing from the structure.)

This room was where Jack seemed to spend most of his time. Seemingly unawares of the bedroom upstairs, he instead opted to crash on the couch, which didn't bother anyone else much, least of all Salvador, though not much made any difference to that guy. Wether this was his way or surviving, or his height caused everything to pass over his head, no one knew. But he still gave a strange look to the sleeping teen sprawled on the sofa, his right, bandaged arm through the sleeve of his hoodie, and the left one instead left underneath the hoodie, crossed across his chest.  
"Hey, amigo" He chimed. "Shouldn't you be doing something?"  
Jack stirred, and turned his barely-open eyes towards Salvador. "Such as?"  
"I don't know, señor, just asking". He just shook his head as Jack laid back down and began to gently snore again. By 'assassin', he'd expected another Zer0. Secrecy, evasion, another character of constant awareness. Not sleeping, sarcasm, and this seemingly normal teenage behaviour. He was just too _human_. Stomping his heavy boots across the pavements, he made his way to Moxxi's, having already run a few errands for the day. Axton and Mordecai were already there, downing enough alcohol between them to make any sports team flinch. He stopped at the bar, quickly ordered rakk ale, and made his way to their booth.  
Pandora's trade was still awful, even after Hyperion's set-back. It turned out their control wasn't what stopped decent import, but more that there was nothing to deport. This left rakk ale, vile as it was, to be one of the only alcoholic drinks served. The other drinks included 'Stingers', an electric blue concoction, coming from the juices of natures most annoying obstacles, stinging cactuses, 'Skags Piss', a popular brand among bandits for the complete abundance of it on Pandora, which came from the fact that it's distilling process did in fact involve the local roadkill, and 'Loader Fuel', Hyperions attempt to dip their fingers into the beverage industry. 'Stingers', drunk as shots, often leave the tongue quite numb, and a stinging sensation at the back of the throat. This ruined the rush of the high alcohol content for most people, so it remained unpopular. 'Skags Piss' and 'Loader Fuel', both being beers, were not quite as bearable as 'Rakk Ale', and so sales through bars also plummeted.  
As his ale arrived, Salvador looked at his all-too-regular drinking buddies. They were already completely wasted, with Mordecai trying to remember the lyrics to a song that never existed. Shrugging his shoulders, Salvador ordered five more ales, and started on his way to catching up with the others.

* * *

"Hey sleepy head."  
"Urghh." Jack groaned as he sat up. He wasn't hungover, or suffering from anything in particular. He just had a stinking headache.  
"Oh come on, I got you soup!"  
He looked up. Gaige stood, leaning over him, a tray clutched in both hands, with a bowl of stalker soup sliding from side to side. He initially assumed this was from her sudden movement into the room, but then noticed how she gripped the tray so hard that the knuckles on her flesh-and-blood hand had turned white, and her robotic hand had punched through it already. He decided to ignore it.  
"Thanks" he said with a smile, before taking the tray with the hand he had through the arm of his hoodie, and shuffling along to allow room for Gaige to sit. "Wow, you look...different."

Instead of the pig tails she normally had her hair tamed to, curling red locks fell from her head, coming just short of her shoulder blades, with a few stray strands brushing against her cheek.  
"Yeah, it just kinda fell apart, and I haven't had the chance to get to the quick change station yet to get it back to default." She blew one of the hairs from her face. "Sorry, I just saw you sleeping like a baby and thought i'd get you something to eat, I should've cleaned up first." She kicked herself mentally. Should've done that last time, too.  
"You've brought me food, and you're apologising? Jeez, you're making this feel like babysitting." He laughed. "Besides, it looks cute. I don't know why you don't have it like that more often."  
Gaige blushed. No one complimented her, besides her father. _No one__**. **_Her response was stopped before the words left her mouth by Jack.  
"Mmm, and you can cook! Damn, beats pizza!"

It hadn't been hard to cook, even without a kitchen. It had, in honesty, been mostly Death Trap heating up the mixture with his power source. But she still blushed from the comment.  
"Thanks Gaige, you're amazing" Jack sighed, having inhaled the meal faster than she thought possible. He stood, brushing the front of his jeans. "Better go see if anyone needs a hand. Thanks again sweetie." He gave her a quick hug and kiss on the cheek, and jogged out the door, seemingly energized by the meal.  
Gaige just sat there. He had kissed her. Okay, just on the cheek, but no alcohol. And called her sweetie! Okay, that didn't count, he called everyone sweetie. Lilith called everyone names like 'killer', Jack, for unknown reasons, seemed to call everyone 'sweetie', 'sweet cheeks', and 'babycakes'. Even Axton, Salvador, and Zer0, and it still made them all laugh. She sighed.  
Even with the younger vault hunter around, she felt like the immature schoolgirl.


	5. 5 - Birds and the Stalkers

**Okay, so this is the next chapter. I'm not aiming it to be professional standard, so I apologise in advance for any hard reading. And I also have to apologise about Gaige. I haven't played as her, or with anyone who plays as her. So I didn't even know she had a robotic arm until about the same time I realised she had red pigtails, and i'm still not sure what arm. So i'm guessing left, if that's wrong then just pm or review or whatever, taa **

* * *

"Hey...Lilith?"

"Yes Gaige?"  
"Can I talk to you about something?"  
"...Is it to do with Jack?"  
Gaige blushed. Damn, Lilith was good. But then again, that's probably why she was the leader of the Crimson Raiders. "Maybe."

Lilith let out a laugh. It sounded forced, like the siren's did so often these days. "Okay killer, shoot."

"Well, I might kindasortaslightlymaybelikehimalittlelo." The words exploded from her mouth at such velocity that she momentarily lost control of her tongue and didn't pronounce the 't' at the end, but Lilith still got the gist of it.  
"Well, go for it. Come on, you're near the same age, you're both slightly...mad, and you're both vault hunters! Don't see why not."  
"You see, there lies the problem." She flopped onto the chair in the corner of the control room. "I've never liked a boy before...how do I get him to like me?"  
Lilith laughed again, this time slightly more relaxed. She stared at Gaige with the piercing embers that were her eyes, before realising she was serious. "Like, never? Wow, I..uh..I suppose just try to spend more time with him or something. I don't know, i'm bad at these things"

She seemed to consider this for a second, leaning her head on her hand, drumming gently against her skull in a slow, steady rhythm. "Okay Lil, thanks" she called, having stood up from her chair, and begun walking towards the door. "Catch ya later!".  
Lilith sighed, leaning with one hand on the metallic teeth of the shredded doorway to the living area. She just hoped Gaige had already had the talk about how babies are made. _That_ would be something to avoid.

* * *

Salvador swung his legs over the edge of the bed at Dr Zed's clinic. He felt a little dizzy, though it was a sensation he wasn't unused to after the near-daily ritual shared by himself, Axton, Mordecai, and their slowly-decreasing bank balances at Moxxis. Waiting for Zed's verdict on his condition, he reached a hand to the inside of his leg and rearranged himself through his trousers. The heat of the clinic, largely, he guessed, due to the general refusal to clean the fan of the vending machine, left sweat dripping off him before long. Zed seemed unaffected, but the bulkier gunzerker may as well have stapled those bad boys in place, they weren't going anywhere.

"Well friend, seems you gone got a bit of poison of sorts in your blood. Any ideas?"  
None of the vault hunters had done much recently, except drinking and the occasional outing for meat, mostly stalkers and bullymongs. On the last hunting session, joined by Sir Hammerlock (who insisted up assisting, having not fed his need for the sport of shooting in a while), he had been bitten by a stalker near the wildlife exploitation preserve. They didn't go inside, more oft than not because Mordecai's temper would detonate like poorly timed dynamite simply by being in the same vacinity that Bloodwing had died. Of course, biting Salvador had been it's final mistake, and Hammerlock had declared the beast inedible after only a foot long strip of it's hide had remained.

"_Si_, grande stalker, blew its brains out!" He let out a monster of a laugh.

"Stalker? I see." He tapped a pen against the stack of papers on his clipboard. It would've looked professional, had the pen not been one of the two dollar ones that came with small, colourful candies in the top. "Well, I ain't seen no venom like this before. Uh, did I mention I don't have a medical license?"  
Salvador dropped from the bed, making himself another foot or two shorter, and wobbled towards the door. "_Gracias señor, _but I think I should pay the wildlife preserve a visit." He glanced back to see Zed had put down his clipboard. The illusion of professionalism only suffered further with the absence of any medical statistics or information, instead being represented by the several pages torn from one of Scooter's 'Hooters' magazines.

Salvador would never willingly ask for help, save the sarcastic calls to his team mates that helped him, if only personally, lift the mood during full scale firefights. Today, however, when found sitting ,with his weight against the building that houses the fast travel station, by Maya, he didn't have a great deal of choice. "Eh, _señorita" _he almost panted, trying to keep the strain from his voice.

"What are you doing, you oaf?"

"Just relaxing, you know, eh?"

"Are you drunk? Again?"

"_Si"_ He lied, trying to keep his weakness to himself. Here on Pandora, people pounced on any sign of an opening. Having been raised here his whole life, he knew this better than anyone.  
"You never admit you're drunk." She came closer, trying to get a better view from the light in this shaded area. "Oh my God, Sal. You look dreadful."  
He opened his mouth to raise what he thought of as his trademark sarcasm, but his tongue, which had been drying rapidly, suddenly dehydrated entirely, and he felt his eyes roll back as darkness embraced him.

* * *

"Sal? Sal!"  
The voice came to him seconds before his vision returned. A relatively high voice, one that he found slightly...annoying. He opened his eyes, blinking away the excess films of moisture that had formed during his unconsciousness. Then blinked some more in response to the bright light hanging above his head, which did nothing to hide the fine shower of dust that scattered and settled onto every surface. Pulling himself up, the voice squealed, and he recognised it now as Gaige's. With his eyes now adjusted to the light, he registered Gaige, Jack, Maya, and Axton stood around his bed, concerned looks decorating their faces.  
"Who died?" He laughed, surprised at the whine that escaped his throat in place of the low chuckle that normally accompanied his amusement.  
Axton and Maya both began speaking at the same time, and it took about three seconds for Maya to realise he wasn't going to be a gentleman any time soon. "So Sal, what happened, bud?"

"Eh, I just felt a little faint, thats all, _amigo_." He countered all questions as vaguely as possible.  
"Salvador." This time it was Lilith, coming through the door with Mordecai and Dr Zed. "Where were you hunting. And if you won't tell me, I know Hammerlock will. Now." she maintained eye contact, daring him to lie to her piercing, blazing eyes. "Where was it."  
He eventually relented, telling them how the bastard had snuck up to him near the wildlife exploitation preserve, and nipped him. The wound was minor, especially considering the size of stalkers, and despite the now-greeny tinge it had taken on, it didn't look like it needed much attention. At the mention of the preserve, Mordecai raised his hands, stated "Sorry _amigos,_I'm out", and left.  
"Out? Out of what?" inquired Maya  
"Well," explained Lilith, "if it came from that area, hopefully a few samples could help us make an antidote or something

"Sounds good" replied Axton with a nod, and everyone agreed.

As everyone turned to leave after saying their farewells and wishing recovery to Salvador, Jack stopped suddenly. "OH, while I remember." He held his palm up, and a small, red packet digistructed into his hand. "Try this." he called, throwing the small sachet to Salvador.  
"Calpol?" He said, reading it out loud. "What's this?"  
"It was made as headache medicine, but it kinda became used as a cure-all by kids" And with a joking wink, he left.


	6. 6 - Wildlife Exploits

**The guest who reviewed, yes, you did read the same chapter twice. I must have accidentally chosen the wrong document when updating the first chapter's spelling mistakes. I've fixed it now as far as I'm aware, thank you for bringing it to my attention**

* * *

Everyone stood by the fast travel, preparing their gear, and double checking their shields. They couldn't have another person poisoned. Yeah, it'd be inconvenient, but the main problem was that Dr Zed's clinic only had one bed. And no one wanted to share a bed with Salvador.  
"Hey, sorry!" shouted Jack, coming from the direction of Marcus Munitions. "Didn't mean to get caught up in conversation."  
"With Marcus?" Gaige screwed her face up. "He's a perv." She paused. "A fat sack of awesome guns and ammo, but a perve."  
"Yeah, sorry". He reached back with his right hand, and scratched the back of his head. "But we were just admiring this."  
He brought out a purple SMG. It was very thin, only around 3-4 centimetres thick, with the handle, trigger hoop and trigger made of a black metal, with rubber grips set into it. The sight was a laser, invisible to the human eye except for the reticle. This meant that, from whatever angle, it provided high accuracy. The reticle itself was electric blue, shaped as a cupcake.  
"Guys, we're going" interjected Lilith. "Oh, nice gun." She took a second to admire it, then turned, and quickly hit the button. She de-digistructed, her body being disassembled, to be re-assembled near their target. Axton, Maya, and Zer0 followed quickly after. Gaige went to hit the button when Jack stopped her.  
"Wait" he said. "Two more things. One, this gun is a custom built shock Maliwan weapon."  
"Cool. Now we need to get going."  
"Two." He continued, ignoring her interruption. "This."

He flipped over the weapon. On the other side, written in letters made of robot parts, was the name 'Gaige'. He passed the gun to her, and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before hitting the button and pursuing the others. She stood there, gobsmacked, for nearly half a minute, before also transporting to the preserve.

* * *

"Are you serious?"

So far, the last couple days were shaping up to be shit for Salvador.  
"'Fraid so fella, you ain't gonna be moving for at least a week."

"What about that stuff? Cal-pole?"

Zed scratched his chin. "Well, as a doctor, I can't advise it. As a bored fella without a medical license, sure, lets see this work".  
Zed picked up the sachet, cut the top off, then passed it to Salvador. "Drink up."  
Salvador squeezed the little packet, the sweetness hitting him twice as hard after expecting the bitterness that is the norm with most effective medicines.  
"So" enquired Zed. "You okay? Breathing, check. Heartbeat, check. Annoyed look that suggests I should stop, check." He sat back, hands behind his head. "Didn't he say for headaches? I mean, I may not be some fancy legal doctorate like Miss Tannis, but I know the difference between your head and your..." he tapped Salvador's stomach. "..yeah." The way he had stretched 'doctorate' emphasised his dislike for people that held the title. Not that it'd have made any difference if he did have a medical license, he was the only person in Sanctuary that people came to for patching up.  
"God, help me" Salvador moaned, falling again into a deep sleep.

* * *

"Right. Easiest way to go about this is Zer0 keeping an eye on the rest of us from a distance. You're the only one who can see them when they turn invisible, so you're vital to our safety. Understood?"  
The assassin nodded. Even if it wasn't 'understood', he really didn't want to piss Lilith off. She rarely joined in on any sort of mission, preferring to keep control from HQ. The way she saw it, she'd already worked her way up and seen a vault open, so she'd had her adventure. The very fact she'd automatically put herself into this, without any obvious reason, meant she was far from a calm mood.  
"Good. That leaves us five. Axton, Maya, I need you to cover behind us. Axton's turret is capable of shielding us from the worst, and anything it can't handle will probably be a bit more handleable after a phaselock and a good blasting. Okay?"  
Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. Zer0 took up position on a high rock. He watched as everyone else formed their pentagon formation. This wasn't a difficult plan, and he suspected Axton could come up with a better one, but even his air of cockiness dropped when facing off against Lilith.  
Everyone was placed now, ready to move. The air was cold, dropping rapidly with the light, its icy fangs tasting his flesh, even through his suit. This didn't bother him though. Assassins always know, wether from passed on as simple advice or through experience, that the cold kept you awake, and alert. In a moderately warm enviroment, reactions tended to be a lot slower, and this could mean the difference between life and death. His train of thought was interrupted by the crackle of his ECHO device.

He recognised the voice as Jack's. "Any signs Zer0?"  
"Negative" He replied. There were no stalkers anywhere to be seen, which was incredibly unusual for this area. "Maybe Salvador's 'hunting' scared them back for a while." Unlikely, but it made sense.  
"Ite. But guys" this was aimed at everone. "Just a slight thought. If the theory here is a mutation of sorts, then it would have come from the preserve, yes?"  
Lilith snapped, almost angrily. "No one said anything about mutation."  
Jack turned to Lilith and stared intensely into her eyes. She felt far from comfortable, being used to being the one aiming the stare instead of receiving it. Finally, after what seemed like forever, he snapped his vision away. "Well, everyone. Who was thinking it? Admit it."  
Gaige slowly raised her robotic hand, Axton and Maya looked to each other before nodding, and Zer0 voiced his agreement. "I concur."  
Lilith looked at everyone, then down. When she looked up again, there was that almost child-like grin on her face. "Okay, I admit it too. But." she looked towards the building now, its exterior stained from lack of care since the vault hunters last visit. Everyone had evacuated after it had become a target for the vault hunters. "But, what's the chances of us finding anything?"  
"Never know until we try" grinned Axton, holstering his Dahl SMG.  
"Point taken. Okay killers, we're going on a field trip." With that, she began walking towards the preserve itself. Everyone just naturally followed. She didn't have the military training like Roland, nor was she as much of a clear thinker. She was, however, more social, and able to relate to people. Or, at least, when she wasn't irritated. Either way, you followed her out of respect and trust, or out of fear.

* * *

The short journey had been made even shorter by the lack of resistance from the locals, and before long they came to the area outside Bloodwing's holding cell.  
"This is creepy" stated Gaige, her new gun at the ready.  
Lilith noticed the gun, and, arching an eyebrow at Gaige. Gaige ran to check for loot, hiding the blush forming on her face.  
"Okay, we need to explore the rest of this place. Hurry up, we don't want to be ambushed. This place is too quiet."  
"Wait." It was Jack who'd spoken up.  
"What is it?" Lilith asked, impatiently. She wasn't patient normally, give her an excuse on top of her just wanting to get out, and she'd pounce on it. "We need to find something for Sal."  
"This was Mordecai's bird's cell?"  
"Yeah. Handsome Jack captured him, and experimented on it." She gave a sad look. "Mordy's never been the same since."

Jack shuddered, remembering the experiments Hyperion ran on him. But he ignored it, the sensation building in his brain, and walked into the cell.  
"There's nothing there Jack, the others searched before."

"Lilith, question for you." He looked at her. "You've been to Jakobs Cove, right?"

She shuddered, remembering the hordes of zombies, their flesh falling from their body as the stumbled and crawled, a relentless undead army. "Yeah, we took a job there shortly after the first vault, Jakobs hired us to stop the whole undead problem. Why?"

"Did you see any birds there that looked like this Bloodwing? Maybe slightly more...undead, but similar?"

"Yeah, kinda. They resembled Bloodwing in a way, but decayed."

"I see. And where did Bloodwing die?"

"Observation wing." She looked down. "Why? Why is this important?"

Jack looked at her as if she was stupid, before his expression softened. "So, the birds you encountered. Corpse Eaters, correct? What happened when you shot them?"  
"Well...they exploded"  
"Aaaaaand? Anything they dropped?"

Lilith slapped her hand to her mouth as she gasped. "_Eggs!_ They drop eggs when they die!"

"There we go" Jack grinned. "So, which direction?"


	7. 7 - Doctor Do-A-Lot

**Cool, next chapter. Apologies again for mistakes. I'm an incredibly impatient kid.**

* * *

Salvador had started retching. He had felt better, the pain subsiding slightly, and his vision and mind becoming clearer. For about half an hour. Then he'd felt queasy, his oesophagus constricting and cutting each breath short. This preceeded the vomiting, which had gone on for two hours. Now his stomach was empty, and despite the retching, he didn't, or couldn't, throw up.

"Who needs a medical license, when you got style!"  
This vending machine was seriously getting on his nerves. It wasn't quite as annoying as Marcus', but he'd never had to put up with one of Marcus' machines, every five minutes, for anywhere close to this long. He buried his head into the dirty pillow, hoping to drift off again, but sleep wouldn't come. The pillow smelt vaguely of sick, and had a dried red stain in the corner, which Salvador tried not to think about, considering his head hadn't bled, and he'd only vomitted over the side of the bed.  
"Good, you're awake." Came Zed's voice.  
"_Si_ _señor"_

_ "_Well, looks like you gotta eat, fella."  
"No _amigo, _all it does is come back up."  
"Hm. Maybe we can get some of the poison outta you like that. How ya feeling after puking?"

Salvador thought for a second. "Eh, dizzy."

"Better or worse than before?"

"..Better" He let out one of his signature belly laughs. "I am INVINCIBLE"

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Still can't walk though." This took the smile from Sal's face. "But we'll get you patched up. Now, you like pizza?"

"_Si,_ who doesn't?"  
"Good point" he said, pocketing some of the money the other vault hunters had left to take care of their team mate, and headed towards Moxxi's.

Mordecai was crumpled in a heap at the Crimson Raiders HQ. He felt like an absolute dick. He'd lost his best friend, his partner, and he'd let that take over. He missed him, he'd lost a part of himself in that bird. But he shouldn't ever have let that force himself from helping the others.  
He'd gone straight to Moxxi's, and spent almost all of his remaining money on ale. He'd gotten used to stopping himself after too much, missing how Bloodwing used to knock the bottle from his hand should he go overboard. He'd become accustomed to limiting himself, even if it was well over what he should be drinking. But today, he hadn't stopped. When he'd got sick of the crowd, and the pounding music, he'd near-crawled to the HQ, and tried to stand. First he'd leant on the chair, and tried to take his own weight. But then he'd felt dizzy, gone to hug the wall, and found himself kissing the floor.

He was glad the others didn't see him like this. He was pathetic. A wreck. Regardless how tolerant of his constant intoxication the vault hunters were, even they'd be shamed by this. He tried not to think about these depressing thoughts, and closed his eyes, not bothering to find somewhere more comfortable than the metal surface.

* * *

"...There's nothing here."  
They'd run through the preserve, Axton leading the way to the observation wing. They didn't know quite what they'd expected, the body had been moved to Opportunity to Handsome Jack could gloat about it, and thinking about it, there wouldn't be anything left. The areas constructed for isolated experimentation and viewing were kept clean, even now retaining most of the hygiene that Hyperion enforced.  
They all stood, speechless. None of them had thought it through properly, just hoping against hope for something. Lilith turned towards Jack, and opened her mouth to talk, the neutral mask she attempted to hold on her face betrayed by the disappointment in her eyes. Before she could talk, he held a single finger up to his mouth, and pointed towards where they'd come from.  
Cowering, behind the crate nearest the lift, was a baby skag. It came out from behind the crate, and started walking slowly towards them.

Gaige, Lilith and Axton raised their guns, causing the skag to stop and eye the nearest cover. Jack lowered Lil's and Axton's guns, and walked towards the skag. Stopping, about half the distance away, he crouched and lowered his left hand to the ground, holding his right hand out.  
The skag approached slowly, cautiously, its pace descending the closer it got. Eventually, it reached him, and sniffed his offered hand. A few seconds passed, and it rubbed itself up against his hand.  
"He's good with animals too?" whispered Lilith to Gaige.  
"See? He's amaaazing."

"Actually.." ,Jack interjected, "it's friendly around humans. Or, more so than most skags. The way it approached, it had its head to the ground. Actually facing the ground. It's a sign of being scared, but not violent."

"So?"

"Think about it. If he's friendly to humans, when most skags aren't. That means it's been raised by humans."  
"But..it's young, and no one's been here for ages." Lilith pointed out.  
"No one that we know of. Axton, Maya. Did you two happen go far off the path that lead directly to Bloodwing when you guys tried to rescue her?"

"No, not really." replied Maya  
"And so, we can't be sure every area is actually clear." Axton finished Jack's train of thought.  
Jack smiled, a cheeky grin, and patted the skag on the head. It rubbed it's head against the back of his hand, it's rough skin not fully developed due to it's young age. It circled him twice, then headed back to the lift.

"Well", Jack said, turning away, "this way I guess."  
No one questioned following what would normally be assumed an enemy. Jack had a habit of mixing things up, thought Gaige. She liked that. She like it, a lot.

Mordecai woke up, the pounding headache slightly soothed by the drunk sensation that hadn't quite worn off from only a little while before. His ECHO device pierced his hazy brain.  
"HEY MORDY"  
"Dammit Gaige, calm down. Hey, Mordecai! Guess what?"  
"Eh what"

"You remember Jakobs Cove?"

"Yeah." In his state, he didn't really. It was all he could do to recognise Liliths voice, but he wasn't in the mood for Lilith to take 10 minutes explaining something he'd remember in the morning...maybe two or three days from now, given the alcohol levels in his system.  
"Well, it turns out Jacks a genius. Oh don't be modest, you idiot. Sorry, what Doc? Oh right. Mordecai, stop drinking, we have good news. But the ECHO's upsetting the animals, we'll explain when we get back."  
Good news? What difference did it make. He closed his eyes, and was lost to the world of sleep once again.

* * *

The skag had led them on the path they'd came. Just before reaching the stalker enclosure, the trickling of its waterfall easily heard from there, the skag stopped. He nudged Jacks hand, then raised it's front legs from the ground, resting them against the wall. It barely altered it's height, but it made it clear that it wanted Jack to push the button directly above its head.  
"Careful" warned Lilith, raising her gun.  
One of the doors slid open, revealing a corridor. The walls were immaculately clean, save the bottom couple of inches. The ceiling, sitting three metres above the floor, was white tiles, only the slightest dust on the centre of the top of the arched, semicircular light. It was obviously cleaned, regularly, though by someone who couldn't reach, even with a duster. The floor was covered in a layer of mud, some still wet, making it slippy.  
"Stacy! Stacy?!" The call came from a door at the end of the corridor. "Come on girl!"  
The skag responded to this, running straight for the door.  
"There you are! I was worried about you! And..oh."  
A short, slim lady, with black hair that was currently ruffled like a biker's beard reaching down to her shoulders. Her face was covered in dirt, as was her white lab coat, and her large, round glasses had smears on them, as if she'd wiped them with a clothe that hadn't been washed in far too long a time.  
For lack of conversation, Lilith arched an eyebrow, and asked "Stacy the skag?"

"Uh..yeah."  
An awkward silence followed, before the woman asked "can I uh..help you?"  
"Yeah. Is there somewhere we can talk?"

"Uh..this way."

There were only five seats, so Jack offered to ECHO Zer0 from the corridor and tell him to come down. And not to shoot anything.  
"He'll be a while, he had to move to a higher spot to see the whole layout to cover us." He glanced at the woman. "And don't worry, I explained the situation. He's not going to pull a gun. If he's attacked, he's going to throw a decoy and flee."  
"That's not a worry", she explained, "all the wildlife that were left after Hyperion evacuated are here."  
"All in this corridor?" asked Maya, surprised.  
"Yes. Each door in this corridor leads off to another room. The animals are only let out for a little while, unfortunately."

"Why is that? It's unlike Hyperion to issue that amount of control on weapons."  
"They are NOT weapons!" the woman almost shouted, standing up.

Jack walked behind her, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Okay Doc. I assume that title fits, considering this" he waved his hand around, motioning to the whole structure they were in. "Calm down. All Maya meant was, Hyperion used them as weapons. Let's face it, your bosses are a bunch of power hungry twits. Now," he sat on the floor, legs crossed, as Stacy nuzzled up against his hand, "could you explain what's going on? We thought all of Hyperion had evacuated. Oh!" he added, as an afterthough. "How rude of me. And your name, if you don't mind my asking. My names Jack."  
The woman looked at Jack, almost as if afraid of the name. "Okay. You are correct, I am Dr. Mallard. But please, call me Chloe."  
Zer0 had arrived halfway through Jack's talking, silent and unnoticed. The doctor muffled a scream as he casually strolled towards the opposite wall and stood there. The vault hunters introduced themselves, somewhat grudgingly, and Chloe looked surprised.  
"You're the ones who killed Handsome Jack! I've heard about all of you!" She looked at Jack. "Except you. No offence."  
"None taken. I didn't turn up until that bastard was long gone."

"I agree. He was a bastard. I hated the experiments he did here, the countless tests on innocent souls. I'm sure most of the others did, professors and technicians alike. There were the few who found it fascinating and had no concept of life, but for the most part, we wanted out." She looked incredibly upset, all of a sudden. "I joined this project to research wildlife. Not to mercilessly pump it full of chemicals and watch what happened. I always wanted to be a vet, but out here on Pandora there's almost no call for that line of business. Researcher was the second best, you know?"

Everyone nodded.

"I was so glad when we could leave, but I couldn't leave these lot here. They've been raised in captivity, and the unborn eggs and young were kept seperate from parents. None of them would survive. So I opted to stay here, looking after them."  
"That's incredibly noble of you" stated Jack. "It's not every day you meet a beautiful woman with kind intentions as well." Chloe blushed. "But we did come here for a reason. Well, two actually. Do you know anything about Stalker venom? As far as I'm aware, they don't produce it naturally. Our friend is suffering quite badly from a bite received from one not far from here. Only slight, a tiny wound, and without any signs of major infection. But he's been on his back since a few days after, and he's not the kind to be stopped easily."

"Stalker venom? Yes! One of Hyperions experiments was to implant a poison sack into creatures, and link them to the main offensive mechanism. Stalkers don't usually attack with teeth unless their tail or claws are damaged." She shook her head sadly. "The actual process of transferring the poison from the sacks to the offensive point required quite a thick tube, and fitting it into the tail was impossible with the muscles and tendons that made it an effective weapon, and the thin tissue between the limbs the claws are on means that it would unbalance the stalker entirely. So they clipped their claws and tail spikes, then left them to adapt to using their teeth." She almost sobbed.  
Everyone looked at her, willing her to go on, so Jack got up and put an arm round her shoulder. "In your own time, Doc. I know this is hard, and you're a wonderful person for helping these creatures. We appreciate your help."  
Chloe looked up and smiled at him, wiping a tear from her eye. Seeing Jack being so kind to her, the bodily contact, the complimenting, made Gaige burn with jealousy. Lilith eyed her, made eye contact, then pointed at the door and a questioning look formed on her face. Both got up and left the room, Gaige with anger clearly showing.  
Chloe ignored this. "I think the poison used was synthesised from a plant found near Fyrestone. It was picked because the only known cure is another plant, found in the Dust."  
"Best we go find some then" said Axton, standing.  
"No need. We have plenty stored here, in case of staff casualties."  
"So you're okay with us taking some?"

"That's absolutely fine. I don't have much use for it, only four stalkers survived the experiment, and two of those died after. The one your friend encountered must be one of the remaining two. And no offence meant when I say, being one of you guys, it's more likely than not that he blew it up afterwards."

Maya gave a grim nod.  
"One more thing." Jack said. "Bloodwing, a friend's pet, of sorts. Hyperion experimented on her, causing foul mutations, from what I hear. But her species is an endangered one, because they only drop their eggs when they die. Do you happen to know anything about if Bloodwing dropped one?"  
"Oh, Bloodwing? The poor thing." She shook her head. "One of the worst things to happen in this awful place. Yes, she dropped an egg. It hasn't hatched yet, the egg seems to take longer than most birds by a long way. That would explain how numbers have dwindled instead of staying constant. An unhatched egg is easy prey."  
"Could we possibly have it? I know it's asking an awful lot, but I think Bloodwing would have wanted Mordecai to have it." When Chloe gave him a questioning look, he explained. "Mordecai was the one who looked after her. They were inseperable for well over five years."

With a slightly upset look in her eye, not for the first time, the professor replied "Yes..i suppose so. This way."

She stood, walking towards the door. When she opened it, she stopped, having interrupted Lilith and Gaige's conversation, Gaige with tears in her eyes.  
"Guys, you get the egg. Gaige, come with me."  
Gaige didn't even try to resist as Jack took her hand and led her outside.


	8. 8 - Eggcelent

**Sorry, this chapter's just focused on the preserve. Since I had the whole Mordecai ECHO thing, I kinda wanted it to fix up. If time didn't fit to a simultaneous point, i'd feel like a muppet. Hope you've enjoyed it so far c:**

* * *

"What's up?"

Jack had brought her out of the corridor, and over to the Stalker enclosure. Leaning on a rock, he lit up a cigarette. "I think it's relatively obvious I hate seeing you upset. If you want to talk, you know I'm here."

Gaige wiped a tear away. Still looking at the ground, in a quivering voice, she asked "Why did you flirt with her?"She looked up to see the confused look on his face. "Calling her beautiful, noble, putting your arm round her... it felt so good how you treated me, but you act the same to a complete stranger." She looked down again, feeling like an idiot for getting so worked up. They weren't in a relationship, so she didn't really have a reason to feel like he was hers.

He lifted her chin up with one hand, and smiled as he looked at her. "You honestly think i'd try that? She's like fourty, you numpty. I'm sixteen. I don't think so." He laughed. "And if I treated everyone like that, wouldn't I act the same towards Lilith and Maya? Come on, I might not be a perve, but even I can see Maya's got a massive pair. Like, it doesn't surprise me brain-dead muppets hit on her all the time. She must wear that skin-tight suit just to keep herself from getting a black eye when she's jogging. The fact of the matter is, sweetie, no one else was going to calm her down. The best way to calm someone down is stop them feeling stupid. Complimenting someone, contact with them, these both stop them feeling silly about negative feelings they had. If you just cheer them up, they fall into a pit of self doubt about what the people around them think of them, and it not only makes them feel worse, but causes unwanted complications when you're asking them questions."  
"So you did that..for answers?" She didn't know wether to be impressed, relieved, or annoyed that he manipulated someone like that.  
"Unfortunately, yes. But imagine you spent your life alone, looking after animals because you care for them. No recognition for your actions, no nothing. She deserves to know what she's doing is a great thing. But, calling her beautiful? Sure, from the looks of her, she might well be. But, definitely not my type."  
"So...what is your type?"

Jack paused for a few seconds, considering. "Oh, I dunno. Gun-toting red heads for one thing." He winked. "Now cheer up, you looks even more beautiful when you smile." With that, he put out his already-smoked cigarette and began walking back towards the corridor where the others were.  
Gaige felt a lot better. Almost excited. Her hair was red. AND, she definitely classified as 'gun-toting'. And he didn't need to call her beautiful. He genuinely thought it! With a smile on her face, and wiping the last of the tears that had ceased falling from her moisture filled eyes, she began jogging to catch up.

* * *

"So...that's the egg?"  
"Yes. Beautiful, isn't it?"

Beautiful wasn't the word Axton would use. Heck, he rarely used it other than trying to chat up random girls. But this thing, a dark cream-coloured egg, with what looked like liver spots, sat on a pile of straw. It wasn't disgusting, or 'beautiful'. Just kinda..neutral really. What were you meant to judge an egg on? Okay, if the spots formed the shape of a pair of tits, he'd've been impressed. But, alas, no.  
"Uh..yeah, sure. So, can we take it?"

"Yeah. I'd wait a few hours though. I'll go fetch the cure."  
"Wait, why a few hours?"

At this point, Jack entered the room, Gaige in tow. Lilith gave her a look, and she almost grinned in reply. "Whats this about a few hours?" Jack asked

"Well, after Hyperion cleared out, they left a lot of supplies. Most of the stuff was expendable materials, like food. Easily replaceable with the amount of money they had. Let's face it, they have no appreciation for money. Butt Stallion being a prime example."  
"True."

"Well, these supplies got the attention of a certain creature. No one's given it a name, seeing as it's existence wasn't even known until recently. But, it's readings match that of a rakk that died years ago, called Mothrakk."  
"Mothrakk?" Asked Lilith, shocked. "We killed that thing long ago. That wasn't an ordinary rakk. Giant, fireball spitting thing that terrorised all the locals in the Arid Badlands, right?"  
Chloe nodded. "That's correct. She had a son. So far I've just been calling it Son of Mothrakk. He arrived one day, and came into contact with a lot of the chemicals used in experiments, and it mutated even further than it's already unusual genes. That's why I keep the animals in here a lot of the time, they don't stand a chance."  
"Well, we're going now. Who's carrying the egg?"

Lilith volunteered. "Just give me a minute, I'm gonna go ECHO Mordecai the good news."  
Gaige saw this as an opportunity to tell Lilith what happened between her and Jack. She guessed she didn't need to, but Lilith was the only person she'd confided in in a very long time, and she wanted to make the most of it.

"I hope they're not too long, the animals are quite sensitive to ECHO frequencies." Chloe sighed. "I'll be right back, the cure for the poison is just across the building. On the way back I'll make sure they've finished their ECHO conversation."

"Alright." agreed Jack. "Then we'll go see about this 'Son of Mothrakk'"

"Eh" called Chloe, almost down the end of the corridor. "Your funeral."

* * *

Lilith had around her shoulders a messengers bag, blue, with 'Hyperion' written across it. Inside was the cure for Salvador, in plant form, with instructions on how to use it. It was pretty basic, crush it with some water, but Chloe showed a side that everyone else thought was similar to Tannis, in assuming everyone else was an idiot.

"Okay, Son of Mothrakk normally resides in the observation wing. Normally just feeding and sleeping times, and it is quite late." She checked her watch. "So around now."

They all made their way to the observation wing. The giant rakk was feeding quite happily from a broken crate. Stacy had refused to leave Chloe, and since she was insistent that she see the fight, that meant Stacy came too. They watched from above the lift, keeping from danger.

Everyone readied their guns, except Jack. He held his palm out, and gave an agitated look.

"What's wrong?"

"I normally digistruct guns..but it doesn't seem to be working."

"Oh. I wondered why you didn't have any weapons. No, digistructing won't work here. Hyperion tried to make a jammer to prevent guns of other brands working. Somehow, the technicians cocked it up to such an extent that it prevents digistructing. They couldn't copy it, because it was an accident that they didn't record. I'm sorry, I don't know where it is."

"Hey, killer." Lilith came over with a grin."We're all ready to roll. Can't wait to see in action this time."  
"And there, we have a problem." He shrugged. "Can't digistruct my weapons."

Lilith's face fell. "But, we need you in this. Nothing's massively effective against a fiery rakk. I remember how difficult Mothrakk was. Normally we'd bombard it with incendiary shotguns, but breathing fire tends to make a resistance to the stuff." She frowned.  
Jack just grinned. "Don't worry, I have a few party tricks without a gun. If you need support, I'll handle it, but I'd rather not show quite how much of a freak I am." with a frown now on his face too, he walked away, and sat on a chair.

Lilith explained to the others, and Zer0 came over to Jack. He just stared at Jack's bandaged hand, a question mark appearing on his mask, which earned a nod from Jack. Satisfied, he walked back to the others. "Care to explain that?" asked Gaige.  
"No." was Zer0's simple reply, hopping on the elevator and pressing the down button.

The giant rakk noticed them immediately. Flying up high, dripping the food he hadn't quite finished, he let out a screech and instantly spat a fireball.  
The vault hunters began shooting, all but Zer0 using shotguns, with him preferring to go with an SMG. Shotguns are effective against rakk because the spread means it's more likely to be hit. If you're facing a giant, mutated, easily visible rakk, however, accuracy isn't really a problem.

For five minutes, a game of dodgeball ensued, the hunters dodging the fireballs and rakk spitting them constantly. Both sides were wearing down quickly, the shooters because it had been a long day, and the rakk because...well, that amount of bullets takes it out of you quite heavily.

This was taking too long. Jack walked to the elevator, which was still down, and called "Hit where the wings attach to it's body."

Zer0 caught on instantly, knowing most about Jack between them. He took out the left wing instantly, setting the Son of Mothrakk into a downwards spiral. He landed on the rocks behind, at the bottom of a long drop, and was impaled, dying instantly. "Thankyou".  
Jack dropped jumped down the short drop, turning at the end. "Goodbye, Doctor Mallard. I'm sure we'll meet again."

"I hope so!" She smiled. It was nice to have company once in a while.  
"Right, lets go."

"How did you know to?.."  
"Rakk's wings are the weakest point. Correct, Zer0?" Zer0 nodded. "So, taking the wing entirely out, which is weak, will cause it to lose it's ability to fly. Not normally humane, but effective."

"Oh..okay." Maya didn't like Jack's attitude. He was a nice guy, and a lifesaver. But when it came to killing, he changed.

"Last one back to the fast travel is a rotten egg!" called Gaige. Pun intentional.


	9. 9 - Eggcitement

"MOOORRDEECAII!."

"Ouch"

"Drunk, again? Not cool, bro." Gaige sat on the chair and kicked him gently. "Get your arse up, we have a surprise for you."

"Is it booze?"

"No."

"Don't care."He closed his eyes, not bothering to get up, and tried to drown back into the wonderful ocean of sleep.

"Mordecai." This time it was Lilith. "You can get up, or Maya can phaselock you and drag you out here. Your choice."

"Come on, you'll love it!" called Maya from the other room. Those involved had come straight to the HQ, leaving Jack to take the cure to . They all felt bad about it, but chances were Sal was sleeping anyway, and they wanted to see Mordecai's reaction. Even Brick had shown up to see what the fuss was about.

Axton dropped a bottle next to Mordecai. "I guess you were drinking this. Have this, hair of the dog. Drink up."

Mordecai mumbled, but drank up.

While Mordecai tried to sit up and get his bearings, everyone refusing to let him see until he was sober enough to be happy, Jack arrived back.

"Uh.." He said, trying to get through the door blocked by the massive hunk of muscle.

"So this is the new kid? Hi, names Brick. I'm the slab king!"

"Slabs? Thousand Cuts?"

Brick let out a hearty laugh. "So you've heard of us? We are the best!"

Jack took a minute to consider what would be a safe zone here. He supposed admitting while other vault hunters were around to assist if things got nasty was as safe as Pandora got. "Well, actually...about six weeks ago, half of them were wiped out, along with those pesty Rippers."

"Yeah?"

"Oops."

Contrary to Jacks thought of how things would go, Brick just laughed. This just startled Jack. "That was you? Damn, I'd like to make you an honorary Slab! You smashed them up real good. I like you."  
He patted Jack on the back, with what felt like enough force to bring his spine through his chest.  
"Okay, so what's this surprise for Mordecai?"

"Yeah." Mordecai came in, rubbing his head. "What's all the fuss."

"Well," began Lilith, "we went to the wildlife exploitation preserve." Mordecai paled. "And Jack had a thought. Remember Jakobs Cove? How the birds looked like Bloodwing?" Brick and Mordecai nodded, wondering where this was going. "What happened when they died?"  
"Really Lil?" croaked Mordecai, struggling with the memory of Bloodwing's death.

"Just bare with me. What happened when they died?"

"They dropped eggs when we smashed 'em!" shouted Brick, followed by another laugh.

Then it hit them both.

"You mean..?" asked Mordecai weakly.

"Yup" said Maya, pulling the bag open. In the bottom sat the egg, cushioned on a pillow they'd found at the reserve.

Mordecai looked like he was going to cry for a second. Not that they could see, because he had his goggles on, but his mouth quivered at the edges. Then he burst out "I need to get this baby incubated!"

He picked up the bag, a grin spread from ear to ear, and ran to the fast travel station, going to his house by the Tundra Express. Brick laughed, patting Jack with one of his back-breaking, ham-like fists again. "Good work slab!"

Everyone laughed, delighted to see Mordecai happy again.

* * *

"So.." Gaige sat down next to Jack, slouched on the couch. "Care to explain what that was about?

"What was about?"

"The hand...you always have that bandage on, but it seems fine. Come on, we're the only ones here, you can tell me."

"Oh, it's nothing."

"Zer0 seemed pretty confident you could take Mothrakk with your hand. And 'freak'? Come on, you said you were here if I wanted to talk. And I want to. About what's up with your hand.""

Jack sighed. "Sure we're alone?" She nodded. "Okay. Well, it's another side effect of the experiments. Trying to bind my DNA to a mutated virus strain." He began unwinding the bandage.

Gaige prepared for a horrific image, but when the bandage was off, it looked completely fine. "So a virus that does...nothing?"

Jack stood up, taking a few paces from Gaige. "Well..." He clenched his fist, and when he opened it, his arm turned black. It extended, the flesh turning to what looked like interlocking tendrils of black and crimson liquid. He pulled his arm back, and punched. Instead of just stopping, the arm extended, reaching across, through the doorway, and grabbing one of the books on Tannis' desk. When he pulled his shoulder back, the arm retracted, stopping at the same length his arm had originally been. "Yeah. It worked, but only in my right arm. It can morph into certain shapes, though nothing specific, like a key, or too large. Yeah, I know, I'm a freak." He sat down, his arm back to normal. He began winding the bandage back around it, and leant back, looking depressed.

"A freak? Because of an arm? Hello?" She open and closed the hand on her robotic arm. "Duh. And that was awesome! That's nothing to be ashamed about!"

Jack smiled, but then looked depressed again. "Well, I wish everyone shared the same opinion as you."

"Jack, now you're being a numpty. We have two sirens, who have scary-ass powers. Brick looks like he lives off nothing but meat, Salvador has been a cannibal on many occasions, Mordecai isn't sober for even 10% of his life, and Zer0 never takes off his mask. We put up with each other, and love each other. Even Axton."

"What's different about him?"

"He's a massive douche." They both laughed. It felt good knowing she'd managed to cheer him up. "I never got to thank you. You know, for the gun."  
"It's fine. You're a special girl, you deserve a special gun."

"But it must have cost a fortune!"

"Not too much. Maliwan owed me a couple favours anyway, they were millions behind on paying up for a few contracts."

"A few millions? Gee, that's a lot of jobs."  
"Nah, assassin's aren't cheap." Gaige sometimes forgot Jack was an assassin. He seemed so laid back most of the time, not at all like Zer0.

"Yeah, guess not."

The awkward silence sat for a second.

"Thankyou."

"For what?" she giggled. "I haven't done anything!"

"You cheered me up."

"That's what friends are for"

Jack smiled. "Where are the others?"

"Sal's up and walking now, so they took him out. He's not strong enough yet to be walking and gunning, so he's gunning from a runner from what I understand."

"Fair enough. Hey, you wanna go out?" She blushed, completely stunned for a second. "You know, to Moxxi's. I'm kinda hungry. I'm buying?"

She exhaled, slightly embarrassed, despite him not being able to hear my thoughts. Smiling, hoping her blush didn't show, she replied quietly "Yeah, i'd love to!"

* * *

"Enjoying that?" Gaige asked, her first slice of pizza half eaten. She was going to eat it, but it was far too hot.

Jack wasn't having that trouble. "God yes!" he replied between mouthfuls of his third slice. "Even using a tiny bit of power drains me, I don't know why. But it's annoying as heck."

"For real?"

"Yeah. Teleporting, not so bad. The arm? Two, maybe three times using it a day. It doesn't make a difference how long I use it within reason, but it just drains me." He shrugged, downing half his rakk ale in one gulp.  
"Hey, pretty lady" came a sleazy voice. A man, sitting on a table across the bar, had made his way over, and was now leaning on the back of he seat. "How about me and you find some place a bit more...quiet."

"Nah, you're alright."

"Come on baby, this kids a wimp."

"Sure about that?"

"Aint you squirt? You're not even old enough for that drink."

Jack just sat and shrugged.

"Now come on. I'd like to show you a good time." He tugged on Gaige's shoulder.  
"Hey, dick-for-brains. She said no." Jack had finally paid attention, though he wasn't exactly looking ready to fight. He was laid back, looking relaxed, and he'd said it almost as if it was a passing comment. "Scram."

"Who do you think you are kid? She wants a man." His six buddies sitting at the table all laughed and hooted.

"Yeah, that's why she's turning you down." This received a lot of 'ooh'ing from his friends, egging on the confrontation.

"You wanna go squirt?" He looked at Gaige. "Come on baby, let's go back to mine."  
She shrugged off his hand, and got up, moving around the table and sitting next to Jack. The grin disappeared from his face. "You little.." he reached to slap her, but his hand never came close.

Jack materialised next to him in a cloud of black smoke, twisting his arm and using the force of the punch to throw him over his shoulder. He did this with his bandaged hand, his left hand again underneath his hoodie, coming out underneath into his jean pocket. The man got up again, pulling out a gun, a small, cheap pistol, and aiming it at Jack. "You might not want to do that, sunshine." Jack looked at him, saying the words slowly, 'sunshine' rolling off his tongue in a sarcastic manner. The man shot at Jack, the bullet only hitting thin air, and the wall. Looking around, confused, the man didn't have a chance as Jack materialised above him and landed with a knee on the small of his back. The man's friends got up, all of them pulling out cheap, poorly made firearms.

"You have until the count of three until you burn. One...two..."

One of the men dropped his gun, sprinting for the exit. His buddies sneered. "..three." finished Jack. As they aimed their weapons at Jack, something strange happened. Gaige watched his eyes as they went from person to person, blinking at each one. As he blinked, where he'd been staring was engulfed in flames. Four of the men dropped their guns, trying to put their hands out. The last one, not so lucky, waved his arms around rapidly, trying to put his overgrown beard out.

"Sorry" muttered Jack, sitting down again. "Couldn't keep my eyes off the beard."

Gaige sat, mouth open for a minute, before throwing back her head and laughing. "That was fantastic! Bloody hell, how do you do that?"

Jack shrugged, wolfing down more pizza. "I dunno, just kinda do. But it takes it out of me as much as the arm. Hey Moxxi!"

"Yeah sugar?"

"Can I have more pizza over here? And a cupcake, if you've got any"

"Coming right up."

"Why the cupcake?" asked, watching the men scrabble to the door. She had to hand it to them, at least two of them stopped to help their friend.  
Their food arrived, and Jack pushed the cupcake towards Gaige. "Because, I know it's your favourite."


	10. 10 - Field Trip

Gaige woke up, a smile on her face. Last night had been great. Jack had taken her out, stood up for her, then helped her climb onto the roof, and laid there together. Then he'd put his arm around her. She just wished she'd had the guts to kiss him.  
"Someone's happy."

Lilith and Maya were both sat up in bed, staring at Gaige. "Never seen you smile that much. Something happen?" asked Maya.

"Come on, tell her." Lilith had a girly glint in her eye.

"Tell me what?" asked Maya, eyebrow raised.  
"Well... I kinda have a thing for Jack." Lilith brew a raspberry at the word 'kinda'. "And he bought me a gun before." He passed her gun to Maya, who looked incredibly impressed as she looked it over. "And last night we went to Moxxi's. Some guy started flirting with me, and Jack roughed him and his friends up. Then bought me a cupcake. He knew it was my favourite!"

"Well duh, Gaige. We all know that. Wait, is this reticule a cupcake too? Damn, that is awesome."

"Yeah, yeah. But then we laid on the rooftop, watching the stars and talking, and he put his arm round me and we were like practically cuddling."  
Lilith raised her eye now, too. "Aaaaand?"

"And that was it. But I think he likes me too. And he's taking me shopping today!"

"Shopping? For what?"  
"Guns!" Gaige said with glee, standing up and changing from her pyjamas.

"Damn" Maya said, giggling. "That boy has got you so sussed."

* * *

Gaige waited by the building that housed the fast travel. She wore a skirt, as normal, this time blue. She had bare legs, and converse shoes. She had considered a low-cut shirt, but decided against looking slutty, and had instead gone with a plain, white shirt. She loved the quick change machines, but they offered so little difference, and she wanted to surprise Jack. As a final touch, she'd left her goggles at HQ, and instead let her hair cascade down her head, just as Jack had said he liked a while ago.

She felt severely under dressed, but also kind of nice with the change. She wasn't a girly girl, and both sirens had expressed their surprise when she'd left dressed like that. She even drew some odd stares from people, so used to seeing the local mechromancer dressed for the work shop.

"Wow."

She heard his voice before she saw him, sitting with his legs over the edge of the roof. "You look...incredible." She was glad she'd drawn this reaction from him. She was worried all morning, two or three times considering going back and changing.

"Thanks." She smiled.

"Well then. Shall we go?" He hopped off the roof, and landed lightly next to her, hand out. She took it, glad they'd got to holding hands already. She wondered if this was what a relationship felt like, seeing as she'd never properly been in one. Sure, the odd boyfriend, but they all pushed her away after realising her obsession with mechanics.

Jack took her to Marcus Munitions, which disappointed her. "What's with the sour face?"

"Oh, nothing. I just thought we'd be going somewhere more...excessive."

"Oh, we are."

They walked down the stairs, to Marcus' till.

"Hey, Jack!" called Marcus. "My favourite customer!"

"You say that to everyone who spends money here." Jack replied. He pulled out a cigarette packet. "Want one?"

Marcus took one, lit up, and let out a long breath. "Not bad. Firemelon papers?"  
This received a nod from Jack. "Now. I'd like to contact , if that's okay with you."

"Of course. For a fee." Marcus smiled, his yellow teeth hidden behind the smoke.

Jack handed him a roll of notes, and made his way into the other room, and picked up the phone. Marcus dialled in the number, and Jack waited four rings before they picked up.

"Hello? Who's speaking?"

"It's me. Put me through to Davis."

"Jack? You know I can't do that, he's in a meeting."

"Well, you can, or I can let everyone know about that little contract on the Dahl elemental's expert."

The line went silent for a second, before the reply. "Just one minute, sir."

"Contract on the Dahl's elementals expert?" Mouthed Gaige  
Jack put his hand over the receiver of the phone, and whispered "A few months ago, one of the high ups at Maliwan supposedly died. His family was devastated. A week later, Dahl start pumping out top quality elemental weapons to rival Maliwan, but with higher fire rates. Turns out the slimy bastard moved in with another girl he got his leg over, and started working the same tech into Dahl weaponry. So they hired me to take him out, without alerting anyone to them being the same person."

At this moment, the president of Maliwan picked up. "Jack?"

"That'd be me. I have a proposition."

"What is it?"

"I want to visit the facility on Pandora. You can transport us from wherever, in whatever. Keep it secret if you want. But I wish to have a bit of a shop around. And in return, I drop the bill."

"That can be arranged. Pick up in half an hour from The Dust. And who is 'us'?"

"Me and my.." He looked Gaige up and down. "..girlfriend. Maliwan is her favourite brand. I would like a look at the best weapons you've produced. And I will be buying the ones with a large price tag."

"Very good, Jack. Pleasure doing business with you." The line went dead.  
And Gaige stood, struggling to keep her mouth close, and her heart under control. _Girlfriend?_

* * *

A military ship awaited them. Being a firearms company, and one of the best, Maliwan did have a small, private army. To transport them, they had these ships awaiting them. The design was similar to a buzzard in a way, the front end being the same, but three times wider. It extended into a long, flat top, with metre long strips coming from either side, just behind the pilots seat, and close to the back. These had what looked like grills on them, projecting some gas as propulsion. There were also two of these underneath at the back end, halfway along the underside, and one under the front. The back was flat, the plate folding down and acting as a ramp. There were no windows, so there was no way that either Jack, nor Gaige, could tell where they were going.  
The walked inside, responding to the pilots questioning if they were ready by calling. Jack sat down on one of the two uncomfortable benches that were attached to the wall, facing inwards, and winced slightly. He pulled off his hoodie, and folded it into a pillow, before handing it to Gaige. "Here. These seats are about as comfy as nails." Despite the mass of room, enough to fit eight on each side, and more standing or sitting on the floor, she sat as close to Jack as possible. Resting her head on his shoulder, she was happy when he placed his left arm around her shoulders. For some reason, he was incredibly comfortable. He wasn't rock hard muscles like Axton or Brick, though she supposed with his abilities he didn't need to be. Which was good. Unlike most girls, muscles didn't turn her on. Intelligence did. Muscles just kind of intimidated her.

They took off, the noise of the engines deafening, and she sat up placed her hands over her ears. Jack seemed unaffected.  
After fourty seconds, the sound dulled to almost nothing, and she relaxed again. She regretted taking her head away, but Jack didn't seem to mind. She wondered if he meant the girlfriend comment. It was weird, falling for a guy a year and a bit younger. But the fact he was taller, and so mature, made it so much more natural.  
She was so deep in thought, she hadn't noticed he'd taken his arm away. She was only disappointed for a second before he instead took her hand. She suddenly bounced slightly, and grimaced. Even through the hoodie, the seat was uncomfortable. She squeezed Jack's hand accidentally, and he gave a soft, much gentler squeeze back. She was grateful for it, and smiled a little.

"What's got you smiling?"

He was looking right at her, and she blushed a little. When did she turn into such a shy person? She was acting like a schoolgirl. "Nothing, nothing. Just..you."

He smiled in response. "You know, you do look incredible today. And the smiles cute."

He kissed her cheek, and she felt the heat in her cheeks. He laughed. "And that. That's cute too."

She wanted to say something, but he kissed her cheek gently, and leant back. She was planning to kiss him back, but the noise started again, and she felt the ship descending. It had only been about ten minutes, but it felt like seconds. They landed, and the door folded down, revealing a smartly dressed man in a black suit. His hair was slicked-back, black, clearly dyed from the amount of wrinkles that lined his face. He waved his two armoured bodyguards from his side. "I assume I don't need them around while you're here Jack?"

"Of course not, Mr. Davis. You know as well as I do, if I wanted you dead..."

"I would be already." Finished Mr. Davis, laughing. "And your girlfriend?"

Jack introduced her, then took her hand and walked her down the ramp. "Quite a catch there, Jack."

"You have no idea, Mr. Davis." He replied.

"Now." He waved to his facility. "Would you like a tour?

* * *

"How do you think Gaige is getting on?"Maya, Lilith, Axton and Mordecai were sat in the living room, eating leftover pizza.

"Why? Where's she gone?"

Lilith replied. "I'm sure it's going fine. He's a sweet kid. But these two don't know."

"Don't know what?" Axton hated being left out.

"Don't worry." Maya giggled. Some people were so clueless.

"Well guys, it's been great, and I'll be back later for drinks?" He aimed this at Axton, who nodded. Salvador was at Zed's, the cure having finally fixed him up to near normal, and he'd most likely be joining them later. "But I gotta go check on Bloodwing Junior."

"Bloodwing Junior?" Maya asked. "Has it hatched?"

"Nah señora, just thought the name would be appropriate for when it does."

"Fair enough Mordie. Catch you later."

"Ciao" He got up, and left towards the fast travel station.

"HEY SLABS?"

"Oh dammit, what is it now?" Maya groaned. Unlike Axton, she'd left it an hour before heading up and laying down, and she'd only just rested her head on the pillow. She got up, opened the door, and nearly walked in Axton.

"What's he want?"

"No clue."

The both walked down the stairs, to find Brick in the doorway. "Slabs! Who fancies smashing some bandit skulls?"

They both shrugged and walked with him to the fast travel station. Nothing much else going on today.


	11. 11 - Black Label

**A lot of the chapters were fillers until I could work out what I was gonna do with the story. SorryNotSorry. x**

* * *

The facility was huge. They'd been through most of it, and it took them four hours, with a short lunch break. Gaige loved the machinery, though she knew how most of it could be improved. It did disappoint her slightly that the guns were made with such simple systems, but it still gave her a thrill seeing her favourite firearm companies work. She wondered if Jack knew it was her favourite.

"Now. This is as much as I can show you. So, Jack, you mentioned you were interested in buying?"

"Yes." He leaned in closer to Davis so Gaige wouldn't hear. "Dont mention a price. Anything she wants, I'll buy."

"Very good." replied Mr. Davis, standing back. "This way."

He walked through to the next room. It was all metal, the walls, the ceiling. Everything. Immaculately clean, not a speck of dust anywhere. It was massive, only two and a half metres high, but easily five times the length of the Crimson Raiders HQ squared. A small, clean table sat in the middle, a metre and a half long, half a metre wide. And, best of all, guns.  
Lining every wall, and on display in cabinets in the middle, were too many guns to count. They ranged in colour from blue to red, black to green, mixes of some and all. Snipers, pistols, SMG's. Even three rocket launchers. Gaige stood, wide eyed, taking it all in.

"Woah."

"Take what you like, it's on me."

"You sure?" she asked, turning to Jack. She hated taking money from people, but she was skint, having lent a large sum of money to fund Mordecai's drinking rampage.  
Jack nodded. "Mr. Davis, do you have any recommendations? She's a fan of SMG's."

He gave Jack a surprised look. "Not sniper rifles? How odd, I assumed you had similar tastes."

Jack laughed. "Unfortunately, I have yet to teach her to use a sniper well, though I'm sure she's well capable of using one."

"Well" he said, turning and strolling across the room, coming to a half about a third of the way and gently removing a small SMG. "This is our version of the 'Plasma Caster'. A few companies have had attempts, but ours definitely has incendiary fight in it. And this" he moved over about two metres "is the 'Hellfire'. High elemental damage, elemental chance and..."

"A small radius for incendiary damage, meaning the shots don't have to be entirely accurate." Finished Jack.

"Ever the expert" smiled Davis.  
"Gaige, just have a browse. I'm not giving you a budget, take what you want. But I need Mr. Davis assistance for a specific gun."

Gaige was disappointed, hoping Jack would stay with her, but she was still grateful. The guns were insane, he was sure the two mentioned classed as legendary. The amount of times she'd have to beat bosses six feet under to get this kind of stuff would be ridiculous.

"Well, you haven't called me over for guns, that's for sure' Davis smiled. "You've always been the type to not judge until you've killed with it. So what, may I ask, do you want?"

"I heard an interesting rumour, concerning the 'Black Label' beer of yours. Apparently, you're bringing it back already?"  
"Ah, yes. We're attempting to alter the recipe, the previous one wasn't up to scratch in my personal opinion. But, we don't have anyone willing to drink that amount of beer, and bandits aren't the best judges when they think that skag's piss is tasty." He paused a second. "You may have misunderstood that. I don't mean skag's piss the brand, I mean actual skag urine. They are an odd bunch."

Jack laughed. "Well, I do know a certain someone who lives by the Tundra Express who has a decent alcohol tolerance, and he's drunk more than enough to give a decent opinion on it."

"Well," Mr. Davis said, "he may just be of use."

* * *

"Here we are Slabs."  
"..This is Fyrestone."

"Yeah, I know. Ever heard of Nine-Toes?"

Both Axton and Maya shook their head. "He was a bandit round here. First leader we ever killed. Also has this thing for skags that I don't get. Why don't he smash them?"

"What...like pets?"

"Guess so. Now, Slabs. After Hyperion moved the hell outta here, Nine-Toes came back, and has those damn flying skags on him. God knows where they came from."

Axton and Maya shared a knowing glance. A while ago, Zed had asked for parts from different creatures. They'd got them for him, being relatively low on cash and with time to kill, and he'd basically sown rakk wings onto skags. Not their best decision ever, but shit happens. "Okay, so where is he?"

"See that fence?"

"Yeah..."

"This way!" Brick charged at the fence, knocking a hole in it with two solid hits. He ran through, heading for a gap between two rock faces. Maya and Axton didn't have a great deal of choice, so they sprang after him.

On the way a few weak skags attacked, though Axton and Maya didn't have to do much when Brick was leading with his fists, throwing skags at the walls. It only took a minute before they arrived at their destination, a long cave entrance, flooded with the stench of urine and tobacco. Brick finally slowed and let out a laugh. "That was easy!"  
"Hey, it came from over here!"

"What a moron" muttered Axton, throwing his turret down. The two bandits who ran round the corner were shredded with shrapnel instantly, as were the three midgets and two psychos. He took cover behind it, pulling out his Dahl assault rifle. Only around thirty bandits approached, and between himself and Maya, it took less than a minute.

"Good going Slabs" Brick called, walking further into the cave. The short amount of path remaining was constructed of a wrecked train carriage, balance precariously over a massive drop. Maya and Axton waited for Bricks massive weight to have made it to the other side before being brave enough to set foot inside.  
Coming out on the other side, they caught up with Brick by a short drop. Short enough that it wouldn't hurt, but not short enough that they could get back up. "Ready?" asked Axton.

Maya nodded, and they all jumped. But no one expected what they saw next, least of all Brick.

* * *

"I've gotta go Gaige, sorry. Contract on some thieving rats put up by Mr. Torgue. I'll be back soon, I promise."

She was a bit disappointed, but since he'd just spent who knows how much money on guns for her, and taken her out the whole day, she couldn't complain. It was getting late anyway, the sky a light blue. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow?"

He grinned. "You know it." He gave her a quick hug, then turned to walk away.  
"Jack?"

"Yes?"

She tried to gather up her courage, but to no avail. She was terrible with guys, couldn't express her feelings well, or show them appreciation at all. Not that she'd had too before, most boys keeping their distance. But she felt like an absolute muppet. "Uh, nothing. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Nothing eh?" he asked, turning back. "You sure?"

Her heartbeat quickened as he got even closer, looking deep into her eyes, and taking her hand. Still getting closer. Oh god, was he going to kiss her? She looked up, and moved her lips to his. He looked surprised, but went with it willingly. Her heart felt like it was going to explode, space itself moving in slow motion as their lips met, her eyes closing naturally. His lips were soft, but firm, and she found it was almost exactly as she'd only a few seconds it was over, and she opened her eyes to see him grinning.

"Well that was..."

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that." The words escaped her mouth before she could stop them, a blush creeping up her cheeks.

"Oh really? Well, I'm afraid you'll have to wait until tomorrow if you want more." He kissed her hand gently, and disappeared into black smoke. She thought that ability was super cool and all, but she hated how suddenly he left. And that maybe she should dress like this more often.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a startled shout. "Holy SHIT."

Gaige walked up stairs, cautious, in case the cry had been caused by an intruder. Opening the door to the girls bedroom, she found Lilith, staring at Gaige's guns, laid out on the bed. "Yeah, uh...I told you Jack was taking me shopping."

Lilith shook her head. "Gaige, you lucky little bitch." Both of them laughed.

* * *

Standing before them, Brick was expecting the same as all those years ago. Where before, there were stairs all around the ground area, almost like bleachers. Now, it was just a straight wall. Where before there were just skags, now there were skags and...

"_Loaders?" _asked Maya, gobsmacked. Loaders and bandits did not go. She'd come armed to the teeth with fire weapons, she wasn't ready for a confrontation with anything but flesh and blood.

Lights flicked on overhead. "Hello, Brick." came a rasping voice over the speakers. "It's been a while." The lights revealed the room around them. What they had originally thought was just walls that lead to the ceiling, now showed to be topped with glass. Behind them, a metal plate closed over the hatch they'd jumped down. Above the glass, around the edges, sat drunk, laughing bandits.

Axton fired off a few shots from his rifle, which bounced harmlessly off the glass. "You like what I've done with the place?" The raspy voice laughed, then coughed for a minute. "In any case, I hope you enjoy your stay."

The rushing of water behind them drew their attention away from the voice. From two large pipes at opposite ends of the pit, water was gushing in. The bandits cheered, and the loaders noticed them, turning and slowly making their way towards them. "COME AND FIGHT ME NINE-TOES" Brick roared. "WHEN DID YOU TURN INTO SUCH A LITTLE PUSSY"

Nine-toes laughed again. "Yeah, not happening."The water was already above their toes, crawling up their legs. The loaders were even slower in the water, though their circuitry didn't seem to be effected yet. Brick just ran at them, fists already raised, ready to fight. He managed to avoid an RPG loader, before knocking it's red eye into it's own metallic frame. His rampage ended after taking down eighteen robots, an impressive feat in the water, which by now was knee level. He retreated back to Axton and Maya, who were backpedalling and firing of as many shots as possible.

Maya went to throw a shock grenade, but Axton stopped her. "The water would conduct it. We'd all be fried."

She nodded her understanding, then phaselocked an approaching GUN loader, and swung her arm, causing it to fly into the remaining two. "That's that problem down. But how do we get out?"

The water was now uncomfortably close to waist height, and still rising. "LET US OUT!" bellowed Brick, beating his chest with his ham-sized fists.

"Hahahaha...no. I think drowning is a most suiting end to you, Brick. Having drowned in vanity and a falsely-enforced sense of self-righteousness, I think physically drowning fits."

Brick laughed. "When did you turn into such a girl? You used to speak like a true bandit, now you sound like a pussy."

"Goodbye, Brick."

Axton shouted to Maya. "That RPG loader Brick took down, where was it?"

"Uh... about three metres to his left."

"Can you phaselock it over here? And both me and it, I need a dry place to work."

Might as well, she thought, putting the plan into action. Goddamit Axton, you better know what you're doing.


	12. 12 - Bobey the Tech Monkey

"So?" Lilith grinned. "Spill the beans."

"Okay, well. He spoke to the president of Maliwan."

"He what? How the hell?"

"He did a contract and they hadn't paid, so he called it in as a favour" she smiled, remembering the warm shiver her body had given in response to feeling so...important. "Anyway, they took us to their facility here on Pandora, gave us a tour, and then showed us the shop."

"And he bought you all this? Bloody heck, maybe I should try giving him the eye. Anyway. What else?"

"And it was AWESOME" Gaige shouted, almost bouncing on the bed.

"No I mean what else...I might've been peaking slightly at that little exchange by the front door. Are you two an item now?"

"Oh, I don't know" Gaige pouted. "I guess so, but he hasn't physically asked. Anyway." She looked at the clock. "I've been sidetracked recently. I've gotta upgrade DT. He hasn't had any action in ages. I'm thinking of installing an AI."

"Okay killer." Lilith stood up, and walked towards the door. "But be careful. You know the amount of stories flying around about AI's"  
"I know, I know. But they're just stories. Come on, the fact they're published in books with characters like 'Bobey the Tech Monkey' gives it away a little."

* * *

"Axton, will you hurry up?!" Maya shouted, trying to be heard over the sounds of Brick's insulting Nine-Toes. The water was now chest height, and despite only lifting her phaselock just above the water, she was panting heavily.  
"Done. Launch me at the wall!"  
She obliged, throwing him sideways. He hit it a little too hard, but recovered quickly. He stuck his turret to the wall, but Maya noticed it looked a little different. Attached to it, at slightly funny angles, were the RPG's from the loader. The turret locked on to the bandits gathered up top, now leaning on the glass to see the vault hunter's feeble resistance.

The glass may may have been bulletproof. It may have been siren proof, even. But one thing it was not, was rocket proof. Twin rockets punctured the glass simultaneous, sending shards flying, and causing the bandits to fall. The three of them covered their heads, preventing glass from cutting anything vital. Brick had to stop shouting to cover himself, and he looked at Axton. "HAHA, good going Slabs!"

The slab thing was getting annoying, fast. They'd put up with it a long time, but it was getting too much now. Maya used the last of her strength to phaselock Axton, then Brick, throwing them out of the pit. She knew they were probably hurt, but they'd survived. She just hoped there was something to get her out of here too.

Axton scrambled to his feet. He felt a pain in his left ankle, probably twisted. "Maya!" he called. That girl really needed to work on strength control. Not that Lilith could teach her that, she was queen of overkill.  
"Yeah, still here Axton. Get your arse in gear and get me out!"

He searched around, throwing the bandits careless piles to the side. There was money, abandoned guns, and a stinking pile of who-knows-what that stuck to his hand. He picked up a cloth to wipe it off, and found a piece of rope underneath. Instead of calling, he just threw it over the edge, hoping Maya would grab it before the bandits did. Though most of them were so intoxicated, it'd be hard for them to.  
"Okay, pull!"

Axton tried, but with the water weighing his and her clothes down, and the fatigue earned from attaching the rockets to his turret, he struggled.

"I got this" came a familiar voice from behind him. Hulking, massive hands gripped the rope, and dragged it backwards as if there was nothing more than a mouse on the end. Maya nearly left the ground from the velocity as the rope reached it's end, and she lay, sprawled on the floor, coughing up water and panting.  
"You'll be okay , Maya. You're stronger than this, come on." He sat her up, patting her back.  
His worry was interrupted by Nine-Toes' voice, echoing harshly. "I suppose you've earned an audience with me now."

Oh joy, just what Axton needed.

* * *

Jack seriously did not want to be here. But, he'd used a lot of money funding Gaige's spending spree at Maliwan. Who buys twenty four guns at once? Not that he regretted it, mind you. The smile on her face made his day. He just wished he'd always tried so hard to make people happy.

He was coming up to the Fridge. Not a nice place, by any means. The cold in the air clung to the lungs, and the pointed peaks, protruding proudly from the crystal-coated ground. Not literally crystal, obviously. Well, not until you jumped down a bit further and headbutted a crystalisk.

Jack found the nearest cover, a long-destroyed car from the looks of it, and digistructed his sniper. Oddly, for a weapon built for use on Pandora, it had an incredibly low sound output. This was the reason he chose this sniper, despite it's low fire rate, due to being bolt action, and it's small magazine size, only four bullets. The rats were near copies of each other, so he had to take them all out before searching. He counted eighteen, plus a mutated one.  
He lined up, held his breath, and took out the mutated on first. Not only because he was the most dangerous, but he was right on the edge of the drop to where the crystalisks lurked, and the force from the bullet sent him tumbling over the edge with barely a sound. This gave him another shot before they realised they were being fired on.

He pulled the bolt back, the used bullet casing landed with a soft thud in the layer of mud trekked in recently by the rats, and lined up with another rat, one apparently on break. He was sat on a table, reading a grubby nude magazine, desperately trying to rub the dirt off of it in order to see better. Jack shot him through the eye, the bullet breaking the back of his skull and sending brains up the wall. It would've been perfect, giving him yet another shot, due to how the rat fell out of sight behind the table. Emphasis on 'would'. The pink splatter certainly didn't go unnoticed, and within seconds they all knew they were under attack.

Keeping calm, he fired again, hitting a midget rat in the back, passing through his lungs, and punching out the other side. A rat had made its way towards him, and he quickly teleported behind it, and broke its neck. This would be a lot easier if he could kill them quickly enough to get away without being noticed. He digistructed a short blade into his left hand, and crouched behind the next nearest cover, some steps leading up to a slightly raised area. Being raised had no advantage at this point, so he kept behind the steps. He pulled the bolt back, and emptied the last bullet into the rat stood furthest away. This would keep them from finding him for a little bit, scattering the deaths.

He reloaded, and took out four more, before reloading again. This only left ten, and they still didn't know he was. He teleported behind another rat, slit his throat, and threw the blade. The knife in the chest of a rat thief who'd just spotted him, silencing him before he could shout a warning to his comrades. He slid behind a table, still out of site of the rats.

Or this is what happened in his head. What actually happened was, after killing the first one with the short blade, the threw it. It instead landed in the crouched rats neck. A kill in the neck is faster than the chest, more oft than not, and so less painful. Though both are near instant, the difference can be vital. A chest shot would have meant a little pain, and so the rat would have gone down clutching his chest. Instead, he died with his finger pointing to Jack's location.

He trained his rifle on two midgets, who started approaching at a rapid pace. He took the first one out, and the second took cover. A grenade hit the floor next to him, seconds after a shout from one of them. Fortunately, they didn't have decent grenade mods, and he just picked it up and threw it back. It didn't kill anyone, but it did explode halfway through it's aerial journey, keeping Jack from any damage. He turned, reloading. His magazine wasn't empty, but it always helped to be ready.

His ECHO beeped. "Yeah, you got Jack."

"JACK!." It was Mr. Torgue. "FALSE ALARM, FOUND THE GUNS IN MY COAT POCKET. YOU CAN COME HOME NOW."

Jack slapped his face. What an idiot. How does one manage to even fit guns in a pocket, never mind lose them there. And the shouting got annoying as well. What was it with muscle heads and low intelligence? He liked Torgue and Brick, but they did little to help stereotypes.

"Alright Torgue, but that's still a five hundred thousand price tag."  
"YEAH, YEAH. THE MONEY'S TRANSFERRED. NOTHING SAYS BROMANCE LIKE FLASHING CASH!" with that, the ECHO cut out. Thank god.  
He threw a grenade. He didn't have a mod equipped. He rarely used explosions, and he'd only just picked this one up from the recently killed, but it did the trick and the remaining Rats kept in cover long enough for an escape. He hit the fast travel station at running pace. Killing them would've been little challenge, but where killing wasn't a necessity, it wasn't happening.

* * *

Salvador stepped into the cold night air. As soon as he'd officially recovered, he'd hit the bar. Mordecai joined soon after, though Axton was nowhere to be seen. He'd been talking to Mordecai about Bloodwing Junior, who he was sure would hatch any day. The collective dirt that had accumulated over time clung to Sal's boots, only showing now after their first ever wash. He didn't see the point in cleanliness; everything was dirty in the end.

Mordecai caught up to him. "I-I gotta go, Sal. Check lil Blood, you know? Have a good one!" He stumbled towards Marcus', before correcting his path back to the fast travel.  
Salvador trudged back, leaning against any walls that came into his vision. The door to the HQ came too fast, and hit him square in the nose. He nearly crumpled, but he forced himself through the door. He should really of tried to be quiet, but he didn't have much sense, his brain cells swimming in their own tears at the amount of alcohol he'd ingested. He got to the guys room, being the only on in here since Mordecai's moving back into his house temporarily, and fell, face-first, onto the nearest bed. God, it felt _great _to be back to normal.


	13. 13 - Not-So-Nine-Toes

"This way, Slabs!" called Brick. After pulling Maya out of the pit, he'd only waited a minute before charging head first into the next encounter. Maya was up by now, but not in any condition to be running. Despite her constant argument, there was no way she was fighting before she had a chance to recover. She leant against the wall, her wet flesh preventing her grip, and she fell comically on her butt.

Axton held back a laugh, having an awful feeling that the determined siren would rather use the last of her strength to shut him up, than let him have his joke. "Right, Maya. Me and Brick've got this. You need to rest. Come and join us when you recover, if you haven't we'll be back. Shouldn't be long, he sounds like a decrepit old geezer."  
"Yeah," Maya replied panting. "That's something I don't get. He was Brick's first bandit boss that he killed, right? We never come across bandits much older than ourselves, almost never above fourty. So, if he is around the same age as brick, why is his voice so raspy and...old?"

Axton thought it through, and realised she had a point. "I don't know. Though if he was the first target of these guy's rage, it surprises me he can even speak at all. Now save your breath, you need to rest."

Brick ran through the rock corridor, meeting no resistance. Even running, it took two minutes. He could already hear Axton's footsteps echoing from the crumbling rock walls, and he knew he could use Axtons skills in the upcoming confrontation. They newer vault hunters had proved themselves numerous times, accomplishing what the originals could not, in defeating Handsome Jack. He was proud to have had the privilege of meeting, and of course, fighting along side them.

Or, as Brick so delicately put it, "TIME TO SMASH, SLAB!"

He didn't wait, knowing Axton could catch up. He guessed Maya was out, she'd used too much energy saving them. The rock wall suddenly turned to metallic sheets as he ran, though this was lost on him. A giant, steel door greeted him, not budging beneath even his massive swings. Taking a step back, he prepared to sprint into another barrage of punches, in the hope of breaking the door, but it began lifting by itself. Light flooded from underneath, and Brick had to shield his eyes. "Nine-Toes? ` You gonna fight like a man or a wimp?"

"Oh, I'm no man. But I can assure you, I'm no wimp either."

Brick's eyes adjusted to the light, and he saw a deformed figure standing, opposite that large room. The room itself was plain, simple metal walls, high ceiling. A few skag piles in one corner of the room. A table with a monitor, microphone and controls labelled with words like 'Shut exit' and 'Drown'. Well, these were nearly the only two controls. Besides this, nothing else could be spotted in the room, not even a light switch, leading brick to believe that the lights were on constantly.

"Hey!" came a voice behind him. "Brick slow dow...oh." Axton had arrived. "Well, uh, hi. You must be Nine-Toes?"

"Yes" came the voice, the figure not moving.

"Well...uh...we gonna fight this out or?..."

"I suppose so. It's a shame too. You'd have made good bandits."

Axton's eyes, too, had adjusted now, and he saw what had stopped Brick speaking. He guessed the shock to him wasn't quite what it was to Brick, seeing as Axton had never met Nine-Toes before. But, he'd heard several people describe him as a 'semi-calm psycho'. A man, lost half way between normality and insanity, fuelled by a need to rule those he knew.

What stood before him, though wearing a psycho's mask, and general attire of shorts and not much else, was not what he'd thought it would be. Instead of the semi-normal human being he was expecting, the hunched man before him looked like a patchwork of anything close to hand. His left arm was seemingly from a giant skag, the skin also covering half of the pectoral muscle, the seam between it and his original skin running diagonally across his left ribs. His feet and both resembled those of stalkers, though much thicker. Axton could only assume they'd come from a badass, as they bulged as if threatening to rip his trousers. His right arm was human, presumably his original.

"I don't think Nine-Toes fits anymore, does it?" he hissed.  
Brick laughed, pounding his fists in anticipation, when Not-So-Nine-Toes stood up straight, revealing a set of rakk wings sprouting from his spine, one purple and one the normal green, and a large, whipping stalker's tail. .

"Well.." muttered Axton, dropping his turret instantly for lack of cover. "Shit."

* * *

Salvador groaned, rubbing his head. It hurt, a lot, but the familiar sensation of a hangover felt good in a sense. He'd gone far too long without a drink. He eased himself up, first sitting, then standing. It was early hours of the morning, and still none of the men had returned. It didn't bother him.  
Being a vault hunter means killing for money. They wanted to find more vaults, sure, but you couldn't do that without money, and only focusing on vaults would make the time in between boring. The tasks, plus raids they occasionally threw together under Lilith, Mordecai or Bricks command, tended to happen as and when. They rarely turned down a job because it was too late at night, and so this meant being out all night. This was Pandora, if you turned your back for the sake of sleep, someone was likely to put a knife between your shoulder blades before you started walking away.

He struggled down the stairs, searching for a beer to ease the pounding in his head. He found a bottle peeking out from under the chair, and pulled it out, grateful that it was full and unopened.

Taking a huge gulp, he burped loudly. His breath stunk, even he could tell, but growing up used to worse meant he didn't really care,

"Eww gross, Sal." came Gaige's voice. "Get a breath mint." She was stood, rubbing her eyes , and yawning. "Seriously, I smelt that from the stairs.

"Eh _señorita_, but it felt good."

"Grim." She screwed her face up. "I gotta go get some sniper ammo, you got any money on you?"

"I'm not a bank _chica."_

"Yeah, but you still owe me that nine hundred dollars from when you were broke."

Salvador sighed, let out another burp, and sighed again. Okay, he took it back, the smells of growing up wasn't quite this bad. Even he had to admit he needed a breath mint. "Fine. Second bed, underneath at the bottom. Take any more, I'll kill you, _chica."_

Gaige laughed, turning to walk up the stairs. "How would you know? You can't count."

Salvador turned red, but decided just to hunt for another beer.

* * *

Gaige rooted around under the bed, trying to avoid the gross things that one would associate with anything belonging to Salvador. Her hands clutched a plastic bag, and she pulled it out. There wasn't much in there, only two thousand or so, not enough to buy a gun. She took nine hundred of it, enough to buy a small amount of ammunition, and put the bag back. She was rebellious, but not an ass.

She wondered what would be under Jack's bed. Unlike the girls, the boys had chosen the beds closest to the door. In the girls room, Lilith had taken the furthest bed, Maya the middle, and Gaige the one closest the door. Kind of in order of arrival. The boys had done the reverse, with Axton being closest, then Salvador. Next would be Zer0, but he barely used it, so Mordecai had taken it. Zer0 had the fourth one, and Jack the last. She couldn't work out if this was coincidental or not among the boys, as Mordecai's position would be perfectly correct seeing as he only started living in the HQ after Axton, Salvador and Zer0. The girls had agreed on it, but she had a feeling the boys didn't have that organisational capacity.

Sal was downstairs, and Lilith was still asleep and wouldn't come in even if she wasn't. She wasn't exactly a clean freak, and it was mostly Maya who cleaned up their room, but she wasn't brave enough to enter the warzone of stench, rubbish and clothes that these guys slept in. Reaching the final bed, she realised it was clean, tidily made, as if not slept in. There were no clothes dumped on the floor. He was almost too clean.

She rummaged under his bed, slightly less worried than going under Sal's, and her hand found a drawstring bag. She slid it out from underneath, and began tugging at the opening. She felt bad sneaking through his stuff, but she didn't know a great deal about him. What if she found something really, really gross? Like a beastiality fetish. Or something like an incredible love for stuffed animals? She just wanted to know what kind of thing he kept under there. She wouldn't mind too much if he searched hers, if only to get him in her bedroom.

Only two of the four strings had been pulled on the bag, forming two, much longer straps, than the four it's designed to make. This made it a bit harder to open, but she managed after a few seconds. Inside, her hand didn't find much. A spare lighter, lighter fluid, a small amount of money (only about one and a half thousand), few packs of cigarettes. And a condom, which made her blush slightly. Then her skin touched something glossy, a piece of card maybe. She pulled it out, ready to inspect it, and her mouth fell open.

"Erm..hello?" Jacks voice came from the door. She hadn't heard him, she was too busy searching. "Can I help you?" he smiled.

"Yeah." She said, rage bubbling up inside her. "What's this?" She held the picture up. It showed Jack, hugging a girl a few years older than him. Maybe four or five years, at a guess. He looked a little younger than now, but not by much. They were both smiling, as if ecstatic too see each other.

"What about it?" asked Jack, the smile gone from his face.

"What about it? I thought you liked me! You made me feel so happy, like I was the only girl you treated like this." She crumpled the photo and threw it at him. "GET OUT."

"Okay. Now listen." The tone of his voice sent a chill down her spine. She looked up at him, tears falling down her face.

"For one thing, you're in the mens room. Telling me to get out? That's ridiculous." He waved his hand around, motioning to the room. "Two, if I did, what of it? It'd be none of your business. I like you, a lot. You can tell I was younger. It would've been then, not now. You're being silly. And three.." He uncrumped the picture, looking at it, tears almost forming in his eyes. "This isn't a girlfriend. This was my cousin. She was the only one of my family to accept what I'd become after escaping Hyperion. And she died for it." He looked Gaige in the eyes. "Gaige, I think it's best we don't talk for a while." turned, and left.

Gaige looked at her hands, laid on the floor, and cried. She felt like she'd just made the biggest mistake of her life.

Lilith opened the door to the boys room, hearing a gentle sobbing. "Gaige?!"

Gaige sniffled, and looked up. "Yeah?"

"What're you doing in here? And why the waterworks?"

"I'm an idiot Lil. A complete idiot."

"Okay, come on, let's get you to bed." She dragged Gaige up, supporting the crying girl instead of lifting, and walked her to their room.


	14. 14 - Mordecai the Yummy Mummy

The firefight had been raging for half an hour, easily. Every second that had passed, Axton had been wishing that Maya would appear. Immobilising Nine-Toes was the only way to beat him right now.

Six times already, Brick had gone beserk, sprinting at Nine-Toes and swinging his fists. Each time, his fists met nothing but air, Nine-Toes simply laughing, and jumping backwards, using his wings to propel his jumps even further than the long arcs his stalker legs already allowed. The only good thing that came from this was that it appeared he couldn't physically fly. The room had been carefully constructed, yet with a relatively low ceiling. If he could fly, this definitely wouldn't be the place he'd have chosen.

"So, ugly!" Axton called, ducking behind his turret again. Nine-Toes was mainly using his fists and legs to battle Brick, but when he noticed an opening he managed to fire spikes from his tail, and they were almost always on target. This fight didn't seem fair. "Care to explain why you look like my dog tried sowing?"

Nine-Toes just laughed again. Each time, it sounded more maniacal, as if he was slowly delving into the depths of a deep-buried lust for blood. "You were a fool, Brick. wouldn't patch me up, but do you know who would? ." He grinned.

"Doctor...Ned?" asked Axton, confused. It sounded like the weirdest situation he'd heard of. "Who the heck is that?"

"Zed's evil brother. Don't know what kinda momma those two had." Brick explained, swinging another fist, which Nine-Toes dodged again. "We smashed him up in Jakobs Cove." He laughed, remembering the experience of being able to kill the same guy twice.

"Yeah, you did. But not before he patched me up nice and proper. It was fortunate you killed that wereskag, it's arm was a great help." He punched Brick, knocking him back two meters. He began jumping away again, but stopped, mid-leap, as a glowing orb of energy engulfed him.

"Hey." Came a female voice, from the direction of the door. "Miss me?"

Maya stood, left hand on her hip, right hand raised in Nine-Toes' direction, wearing her cocky smirk like a mask. "Yeah, actually." Admitted Axton. The smirk disappeared from Maya's face. If even his arrogant, vain self was admitting he needed help in this fight, it was obvious it was someone to be reckoned with, unlike what they initially expected. She looked at the creature caught in her phaselock, wriggling and writhing, before she realised it was a human. She had just kind of assumed it was one of the flying skags.

"Is that?..."

"Yeah." Replied Axton. "Brick, hit him a few times to soften him up, will ya? My turret still has a few seconds before it's recharged."

Brick happily abliged, pounding away at the now helpless Nine-Toes suspended in the air. He landed eight hits before Axton told him to move. Three more before he actually did.

Axton deployed his turret, rockets still attached. Apparently he'd decided it was a permanent upgrade, maybe because how well it seemed to work back in the pit. The sabre turrets rattled off repeatedly, before the RPG's kicked in, the second one breaking the phase lock completely, and smashing the now-unconscious, blood-covered Nine-Toes into the wall at near terminal velocity.

His body made a soft thudding sound as it bounced from the wall, the force ricochetting it back a metre from the wall.

Brick laughed, yet again. No once ever bothered to question it out loud, but Axton was sure no one really knew if Brick just found everything hilarious, or was just easily amused. The one thing that was made painfully clear is that he enjoyed smashing anything that moved even more than the rest of them. "You slabs make me proud. Now, I'm gonna get ol' Nine-Toes here back to Thousand Cuts." He picked him up with one humongous hand, and threw him over his shoulder. "Later, Slabs!" He ran off towards the exit.

"Shouldn't we, uk, follow him? Seeing as this room's a dead end, I guess that's the only way out.."

Axton nodded his agreement. He was about to suggest they hurry before any bandits that had happened to be around, and had heard the noise, showed up, but before he even spoke he was interrupted by his ECHO device, bleeping insistently.

"Hey _amigos, _I got some news. Bloodwing Junior's gonna hatch soon! I spoke to Lilith, and she put me in contact with Dr. Mallard from the Hyperion Wildlife Exploitation Preserve, and she came and checked it. She says it's well incubated, and it's likely only to be a few hours. It's a special moment, guys. I want to share this with all of you!" He seemed incredibly proud of the incubation statement, as if even he had doubts in his ability to care for something so delicate. No one really suspected any harm would come to the egg, he'd had plenty of time with Bloodwing, and he'd care for it like his own child, or even better so. It was great hearing him so happy, he'd not even smiled between the time of Bloodwings death, and the discovery of her egg. "Oh." he added as an afterthought. "And she seemed especially interested in you, Jack." You could almost hear the grin that must be spread across his face as he spoke the words.

"Mordecai, knock it off." It was Lilith who had replied. That was the problem with an ECHO conversation held between more than two parties, arguments started quickly because of how many sides there were.

"Okay, okay. Jeez, why so wound up Lil?"

"It's just inconsiderate."

"Okay." It was Jack's voice this time, but a much harsher, colder tone than normal. It almost reminded Axton of steel. "Can we cut the radio chatter? I'm kinda in the middle of a contract right now."

"You gonna be there?" asked Mordecai, genuinely sounding worried at the prospect of Jack being too busy to be there.

"Yeah, yeah, wouldn't miss it for the world Mordecai, though I may be a little late."

"Great! See you later _amigo_." with that, Jacks ECHO cut out. "Maya, Axton. You gonna be there?"

They shrugged at each other. "Yeah Mordie, we've just finished up helping Brick. We'll fast travel over there as soon as we're out of this cave."

Everyone agreed to be there, though Brick was going to be five minutes late due to having to tie down 'freakazoid', and Gaige sounded incredibly upset. After their ECHO's were off, Axton and Maya sprinted to the exit, and stopped when they got to the pit. They wondered how Brick had got back, until they noticed the hole in the rock face opposite, forming a metre long tunnel to the other side. He might be a moron at times, but no one in their right mind faced him in a fight, even a rock wall.

Maya shook her head, wondering how he managed to do that. He must lie about going on missions, or organizing the Slabs. There's no way anyone gets like that without twenty-three-hour-a-day weight lifting. Or, more likely, an incredible amount of steroids. She ran through the opening first, coming out close to where they'd come in, three metres from the ground. Pandora's gravity prevented them getting hurt in the slightest. After dusting themselves off, they began the short journey to Fyrestone, feeling a sense of anticipation at the birth of bay Bloodwing.

* * *

At Mordecai's place, everyone sat around the egg. Gaige and Lilith sat on the dusty, plain, brown couch, with Mordecai, Axton, Maya, and Salvador sat on what appeared to be stolen bar stools, with Sal's legs dangling without touching the floor. Zer0 preferred to stand, and Mordecai just didn't own anything that could support Brick's hulking, massive form. And, of course, Tiny Tina bouncing around the room. She'd wanted to come see the egg to begin with, but Mordecai had forbidden her, too worried to let the little semi-psychopathic explosives expert loose anywhere near it.

They'd been sat there for around an hour, only knowing that it could hatch within the next two hours. No one minded, they'd never seen the hatching of any birds at all on this barren wasteland of a planet, and seeing one as rare as Bloodwing's species was a once in a life time opportunity. Dr. Mallard wanted to attend as well, but she had to be back to feed the animals at the preserve. Since the death of the 'Son of Mothrakk', the former specimens had been able to roam freely on the grounds, seemingly content to lay in the sun all day, save the always energetic skag pups.

Another half an hour passed, with everyone chattering continuously, and Mordecai getting annoyed at Jack's tardiness. Being an assassin wasn't an excuse, apparently, as 'Zer0 is one too, and he made it.' Gaige dipped her head more and more each time his name was mentioned, twice having to go outside and calm down. Not that it made much difference, the difference between the difficulty of being calm among other people, and being calm when all you can inhale is a cloud of dust that could cover the whole of Sanctuary, was surprisingly different. Even the main room, which Mordecai had supposedly cleaned, had rubbish scattered everywhere, beer bottles acting as a carpet at the edges. There was near no furnishing, the large, messy room, located halfway up his house, only containing the sofa, the table the egg was sat on ( and the 'temperature modification device' that it was sat in), another, larger table, and the bar stools that seemed to belong around it

On the second of these times, after receiving a worried look from Maya, and a series of rapid-fire questions from Tina, her thought were interrupted by a series of screams. "Probably just some varkids. You know how the local bandits love their fire practice."

"No, _señorita, _they were definitely not varkid screams." Mordecai scrambled to the ladder, which led to a hatch on the outside of the building. By the top of the ladder, he was high up in comparison to outside, and could get a good view. He landed on the small platform built to hug to curve of the building, a couple of metres drop, and pulled out his spare sniper. After several moments where he'd come outside, only to have left his inside, he'd invested in a new one, specifically for out here. No one could scale the outside of the structure, and if they could, no one was brave enough to put any weight on the walls that looked as if they'd give way to a gentle storm, and so the rifle was safe from theft.

He held the scope up to his eye, checking the general direction of the screams, and didn't find anything. Rotating slowly, he eventually noticed a long, red streak running up the wall of the bandit camp. Next to it, a series of rep splats decorated the entrance. It looked as if someone had skidded through a puddle of blood. He couldn't see any bodies, and assumed they had been killed with a corrosive weapon, which would eat up the flesh and leave near nothing behind, especially not anything that could be seen from this range.

A sudden breeze next to him caught his attention, and he turned, expecting some form of enemy. "Yo." said Jack, the black smoke clearing. "Didn't miss anything, did I?"

"No, _amigo. _Let's go inside."

Inside, Jack sat with his legs crossed on the floor, while Mordecai re-took his place on one of the bar stools. Tiny wouldn't stop asking who Jack was, and Lilith took her outside to explain. "So, Mordecai. Any word from Maliwan yet?"

Mordecai looked in his direction, blinking behind his goggles. "_Si, _a package turned up at my door yesterday. I didn't open it, do they think I'm stupid?" He laughed. "It seems like a trap to me."

Jack shook his head. "Mordecai, believe me, it's fine. Open the package. Maliwan definitely doesn't want any of us dead, trust me on that."

Mordecai looked doubtful, but he walked over to the package, and cut it open with his knife. "What the hell?" He read the letter placed at the top quickly, then pulled out three bottles of Maliwan Black Label beer. "Beer taster? Oh, I can live with that." He laughed, and threw a bottle each to Salvador and Axton, who he didn't even have to ask to know wanted some. He asked everyone else, though everyone politely declined, before turning to Jack. "_Gracias, amigo!_" He grinned and took a swig.

At this moment, Tina burst back into the room, launching herself at Jack as if from a cannon. "NEW FRIEND!" Even with his reactions, he didn't have time to uncross his legs and move out the way, and Tina crashed into him at full speed.

"Um..Hi there." said Jack, sitting up and rubbing his head.

"Oh, you're boring. I should set you up with Felicia Sexopants. She got a booty like POW!" She punched the air to illustrate her point. "So, Mordy. What was the screaming?"

"I dunno, Tina. Couldn't see anything but blood by the bandit camp."

"Ah." said Jack, sitting up. "Yeah, sorry, I didn't realise they'd be that loud."

Everyone looked at him oddly, even Lilith, who'd followed Tina in, albeit at a much calmer pace. "That was you?"

"Well, duh. Earl was looking for someone to take down the bandits there in revenge for stealing his supply of alcohol. Thought I might as well do it since I was already on the way here, and payment is payment, even if it's in eridium."

"Wow, uh..but there's loads of them, plus buzzards. How long were you out there?"

Jack looked at his watch. "About five minutes. And buzzards might be fire resistant, but the pilots definitely aren't." He moved back, and sat down where he was before, on the floor. "Now. Who the heck is Felicia Sexopants?"

Everyone stifled a grin at this, except Gaige, who simply sat staring at Jack. She didn't care if he noticed. She wanted him back. Tina confronted Jack instantly. "Shawty, you got a problem with Lady Sexopants? Well? DOO YA?"

Jack laughed. "Nah, it's an amazing name. I'm sure I'd love to become acquainted."

Tina seemed satisfied with this, and began rattling on about her 'main squeeze'. "She a fiiine ass lady, with badonkadonks like you would not belieeeeve. She make me drool." She began making a drooling noise, thankfully not actually dripping any saliva anywhere.

"Guys!" shouted Mordecai. Everyone had taken their attention off the egg to listen to Tiny Tina's hilarious raving, and suddenly snapped their vision back. "Guys.. I think it's hatching."


	15. 15 - Shot Through the Heart

Everyone's eyes were glued to the egg, watching as it rocked backwards and forwards. It was only slight at first, more vibrating that moving. Then it began moving quicker, and in longer arcs. After almost a minute, a crack formed at the top, and a crimson red beak poked through. Everyone expected something similar to this, and watched closely with fascination. What no one but Mordecai, who had raised Bloodwing from an egg, and so had already seen this happen, expected to happen, however, was the top half of the egg shattering in response to the new chick's wings extending.

"Jeez! Nearly gave me a heart attack!" Lilith said, holding a hand to her chest.  
"PHAHAHAHAH! Birdy got some style!". This came from Tina, stretching the 'y' in 'style' for a couple of seconds. Mordecai laughed, forgetting he was the only one who expected it.

The new chick turned it's head around slowly, despite not having opened it's eyes yet. "Aw, Mordecai, he already likes you!" Brick said, standing up straight, and watching over everyone else's heads. Since having his puppy, Brick had a soft spot for pets, and his normally violent-obsessed self gave way to a side of him that found cuteness oddly satisfying.

Mordecai examined it. It was still in the temperature control device, which maximised it's chances of surviving. That was a common thing for hatching eggs, even if Bloodwing's species wasn't precisely normal. Instead of the few days it could take most birds, Bloodwing Jr. should open it's eyes in around four hours, and be able to fly in a week. They matured incredibly quickly, and this is most likely why they grew to be such efficient killers. If, in a week, they were as capable as any other bird in it's prime, imagine comparing it when Bloodwing Jr. itself was in it's prime.

They all sat for another hour and a half, watching as the bird chirped, and attempted to clean the goo that had sustained it in the egg from it's body. Mordecai would take it out of the device tomorrow or the next day, depending on it's development. It meant staying here and not accepting jobs, but, happily, his temporary job as a beer taster for Maliwan's new brew of their previously discontinued 'Black Label' meant he had a while. The box might be a couple of weeks supply, but it would only last him maybe three days, if he tasted other beers too. Only in his capacity as a connoisseur, because comparison was important, obviously.

* * *

After the ninety minutes, the vault hunters decided to leave, save Axton and Salvador, who decided Mordecai needed help with his 'job'. The rest said their goodbyes, dragging Tina away as well, lest she try and steal some alcohol. Normal Tina was mad, drunk Tina would be a Pandora-wide cause for concern. Lilith and Maya took Tina home, promising to catch up with the rest after a tea party with Tina. It was inconvenient, but it kept her happy. This left Brick, Zer0, Gaige and Jack. They all walked, Brick asking for details of the bandit killing after spotting the blood stains, Zer0 far in front, and Gaige trailing behind, kicking the dirt.

Once they reached the fast travel, Zer0 had already gone. They all guessed he wasn't going to Sanctuary, as he hadn't done a job already today. Since the downfall of Handsome Jack, their team had become more splintered, with jobs being easier, and less pay to split. No one minded, as with the occasional raid they'd all be in on it, and the saw enough of each other around Sanctuary. Brick went next, heading to Thousand Cuts to interrogate Nine-Toes. He didn't know what for, he just wanted to hit the guy who'd laughed at him while fighting.

This left Jack and Gaige. When Gaige finally got to the fast travel, he'd already gone. She hit the button, squinting as the familiar bright blue light that overtook her eyes during the transport near-blinded her again, only fully opening them again when she recognised the building to be the one in Sanctuary. She trudged back to the HQ, glancing around. She half expected Jack to be sitting there. Half hoping. But she wasn't really surprised when he wasn't.

While she'd forced herself into the world of electronics and mechanics for those hours, he'd run up a list of contracts. Had it only been hours? Brick had only left yesterday, she had heard him say. Something about incredibly slow drowning. She wasn't really listening. But being a bandit king, she guessed at least he finally had a wash. She guessed around twelve hours. Maybe fourteen. That drowning must have been really, really slow.

She pulled herself up the stairs, too depressed to stand, planning to draw up some more modifications for Death Trap, seeing as she'd already installed the last ones. Maybe even an upgrade for her ECHO device. Every little helps. But as she approached the door to the girls room, she heard a gentle breathing from the boys. She eased the door open silently, expecting it to have been her imagination.

What she saw was Jack, laid on his bed, fully clothed. He'd taken his light grey hoodie off, and thrown it on the floor, which surprised her. The black shirt he wore underneath was also on the floor, obviously having replaced it with the white one that he wore now. Now his hoodie was off, she noticed the three bracelets on his left wrist. One was black beads, the white string wrapped once around each one and through before tying to the next one. The second one was oval brown beads, the small string linking them invisible. And the third one was similar to the first, but with brown beads and black string.

After she noticed these, she noticed the damp red stain forming on the left side of his chest as he slept, and the one that already dominated the black shirt he'd disposed of on the floor,and the inside of his hoodie. His breathing was steady, and gentle, but he seemed to have lost a lot of blood. She stood, mouth open, shocked for a second. She then darted towards him to inspect the wound.

As her arm reach for it, his hand shot up, and caught it. His eyes fluttered open, but he just stared at the ceiling. "What do you want?"

"You're bleeding. We need to get you to Zeds!"  
"It's just a flesh wound." He closed his eyes again, and took his hand away from her arm.

"Just get it checked out. Please. Or I'll drag you there."

Jack grunted a kind of half-laugh. "Drag me? You could try. But we know that wouldn't work. Now, can you leave me alone? I thought we agreed not to talk."

She looked at him, looked at the person he'd turned into. "What happened to you?.."

"I was shot. What does it look like?"

"I mean other than that. You used to be so...nice."

"Yeah. Things change with the people you know."

"But...it doesn't have to?"

Jack's eyelids opened again, he sat up, and looked her in the eye. "Yes, it does Gaige. You used to be mad about mechanics. You dressed the same way every day, were near as hyper as Tina, and was obsessed with anarchy and destruction. When we started talking, you didn't work on or use Death Trap in days, wore different clothes, calmed completely down, and didn't so much as mention anything about destroying or killing." Gaige thought about this, and realised it was true. Without even realising it, she'd changed completely, and she didn't even care. "Now, you deface the only reminder I have of the only family who loved me, accuse me of being the kind of person I despise, and get angry at me without knowing all the facts. So now I'm changing. I'm not going to Zed's. Especially seeing as he's closed at the moment, seeing as Lilith's threatened to come down on his head unless he cleans and sterilises the whole clinic. Let's just leave it at that."

He laid down again with his eyes closed, and Gaige felt tears welling up in her eyes. "Jack, please, I was an idiot. I'm sorry. I didn't realise you even had a cousin, or that Hyperion had got to her."

"They didn't." Jack replied, his voice wavering slightly. "My parents killed her, for hiding me."

Gaige was shocked, and felt even worse than ever. She'd been forced to leave her family, sure. But she knew they were alive, even if still in danger. And she knew they loved her. Jack's family may have suffered, but turning on Jack so entirely as to kill other family who got in the way... she suddenly felt like she'd had the easy life.

She sat on Zer0's bed, facing Jack, and just watched. She didn't know what else to do. "Why are you still here?" He asked.

"Because I'm worried."

"Why?"

"Because." She choked back a sob, which had risen from nowhere. "Because, I love you."

Jack stopped breathing for a second, as if it surprised him entirely. Then he resumed as normal. "Cool."

"That's all you've got to say?" She sobbed. She couldn't blame him. It was her fault for doing such a dreadful thing, even if it was accidentally. "I'm sorry Jack, I don't know what else to say. I'm an idiot, I know."

"No you're not. Death Trap is an impressive build. An idiot couldn't make that."

"But I hurt you, after all you did."

"Meh, I'm used to it. Just go and sort yourself out, there's other people out there."

"I don't want other people." She waited for a response, before realising Jack had fallen asleep again. She gathered up his clothes, and took them downstairs to wash, grabbing some washing detergent from the girls room. She was going to make it up to him, one way or another. She ran some water from the tap in the bathroom, which had been installed in the room where Roland's chest had been, after much argument from Lilith, but even more from the others, who were tired of having to use the toilets at Zed's, Scooter's and Moxxi's at any time. She waited for the water from the hot tap to heat, which took about five minutes, and collected it in a large bowl. She poured some of the detergent, the stray dust of the white powder that escaped making her cough, and mixed it with the wooden pole the girl used for washing up. It was a basic way of doing it, but the girls didn't mind, and they were the only people who did it. Not because they were girls, or not entirely. More because the boys simply used the New-U station, out of laziness. Gaige generally being an exception, the girls got bored of the outfits provided, and wore other clothes instead, especially since the end of the war with Hyperion meant their clothes didn't always need to be resistant to dirt, dust, acid. You know, the usual things.

Gaige stopped, to let it soak. She ran some more water into a smaller bowl, grabbed the cleanest cloth she could, and some salt. Making her way up the stairs once again, the poured some salt into the water, and began mixing it with her hand. When she'd reached Jack, she was sure it was mixed well enough, and she dipped the cloth in it.

She didn't have any medical training, besides the first aid that was compulsory in school, but she knew salt helped a wound close, and pressure slowed, and eventually stopped the bleeding. Jack would have already pulled the bullet out, so now she just needed to clean it, and stop the flow of blood. She wrung the cloth out, pulled up his shirt, and wiped gently across the wound. It didn't seem to disturb his sleep, though she was sure it would hurt if he was awake. Though, considering how he'd taken the bullet to begin with, she was also sure he wouldn't do much more than wince.

After the wound was sufficiently clean, she searched around for a bandage. None of the boys would have any, except Jack, and his was wrapped around his arm. Maya might have one, but there was far too much of her stuff to search through for it to be a sensible first choice. Instead, she left the HQ, turned right, and knocked on Zed's door.

"We're closed!" came Zed's voice. "Nobody's here!"

"If you're talking, you're here Zed." Gaige replied. "For a Doctor, you're an idiot. I just need a bandage."

"No can do, Gaige. I've only got three clean, and I need them for tomorrow when I can open again."

"I have money."

The door swung open. "Well shoot, why didn't you say so? What length d'ya need?"

"Longest one you have."

"There we go. That'll be ten thousand dollars."

She maintained eye contact with him. "Here's two hundred. It's a piece of cloth, not a shield or anything. Be grateful for that, and don't push it." She walked off, bandage rolled up in her hand, and felt bad. She liked Zed, he was a funny guy, and the couple times she'd been on the bed in there he'd made her laugh with his stupidity to the extent she felt better mentally as well. But she just wasn't in the mood.

After arriving back in the boys room, she walked over to Jack. Wrapping a bandage around the wound would not be easy, but she had to try. She lifted his head gently, and placed the two pillows from Zer0's bed underneath as well. He still slept through that, too. He must be tired. It gave her space underneath him to move the bandage, and so she began wrapping it around the left side of his chest, alternating between over his shoulder, and around his torso. After she'd done, she fastened it tightly, and hoped it would be enough to help. She sat on Zer0's bed, and watched him sleeping. She watched until her eyelids dropped close, and she fell asleep with her head on her hand


	16. 16 - Gifting

**Massive filler because I don't want Jack being the solo badass of the group. That's Zer0's place. So Jack+Gaige=No Solo Badass. So that explains why he's suddenly a soppy little fart, not because I genuinely thin anyone acts like that. And Gaige is soppy because I haven't played as her. So I don't know what the heck her personality's like. Jeez. x**

* * *

"Gaige?" her eyelids fluttered open, and she sat up. During her sleep, her body had fallen sideways, and she'd slept with her head just below where the pillows would sit, and her legs on the floor. It was a wonder she hadn't fallen off. "Gaige, what're you doing in here?"

The voice was Lilith's, coming from the door. When Gaige turned to look at her, she was wide-eyed, suspicious, almost. "What do you mea...Oh." She turned red. "It's not like that. He was hurt, I wanted to make sure he was okay."

Lilith looked doubtful for a second, then walked over. She noticed his slow breathing, and lifted his shirt, seeing the bandages. "What happened?"

"He took a bullet to the chest some time yesterday. Didn't do anything about it, just came upstairs and went to bed."

"Why doesn't the idiot wear a shield? And I thought you two had fallen out?"

Gaige kept her eyes on Jack's sleeping form. "Yeah. We did. And I hate myself for it."

Lilith inspected the bandages, and smiled. "Not a bad job, at all Gaige. The bandages aren't too loose, the bleeding seems to have stopped, and he's alive after a night. He's a lucky guy."

"Hm, not with a friend like me."

"Yeah, because sorting his injury out, and washing his clothes is pure unfriendliness." She rolled her eyes. "Seems more like a girlfriend thing to do. Anyway, I finished them up for you. They're hanging up to dry. So, he forgiven you yet?"

"No." she looked at the floor. "I'm not surprised. I didn't realise he'd had such a hard time. No wonder he became an assassin. I suppose once you've killed your family, killing strangers is nothing."

"And you're okay if he is a senseless killer?"

"Erm, hello?" Gaige pointed at herself. "I am still Gaige, you know. Vault hunter? Bandit killer? Builder of the most awesome killing machine the worlds ever seen?"

Lilith laughed loudly, then quieted herself, to prevent waking Jack. "How long's he been out?"

"As I said, he was sleeping when I got here. Where's everyone else, by the way?"

Lilith laughed again. "Maya's in bed, but that's about it. We hit the bar last night, and she was downing beers as fast as Moxxi could grab them. She couldn't talk straight after three, but she had six or seven. And Axton and Salvador are still with Mordecai, sleeping off their hangovers. I guess we're the only ones awake around here."

"And me." This voice came from Jack, his eyes still closed.

"You're awake?" asked Lilith. A stupid question, but it surprised her that she hadn't noticed.

"Yeah." He grunted, his left hand twitching. " Why the heck does my neck hurt?"

Gaige looked at his head, and facepalmed. She'd forgotten to take the extra pillows from underneath his head, and this meant he'd slept funny. Her back hurt a little from her own uncomfortable position, but the neck tended to be a more sensitive area. Jack rolled his head from side to side, causing it to make a cracking noise, and both girls winced. Salvador did it often before running into conflict, but it didn't make it any less gross, regardless how many times they heard it. "You gonna..uh..sit up?"

"Nah." He replied, yawning. "Thank you for the bandage though, Gaige. And, from the lack of the smell of blood lingering in the air, I guess you've taken my clothes."

"And washed them" Lilith interjected, trying to push the matter of Gaige's caring.

"Thank you." He repeated, sighing. He really was not a morning person.

Gaige wanted to say "You're welcome", but she also wanted not to sound arrogant. So she settled for "That's okay", and went to check the wound. Yet again, as she reached for it, his hand shot out, and grabbed her by the wrist. But this time, he slowly let go, and rest his arm back by his side. "Sorry. Natural reaction."

Gaige was taken aback by the fact he still reacted with such speed in defence to even her, but she shrugged it off and checked the hole the bullet had left in his chest. It was about a centimetre wide, probably from a pistol, and still looked exceptionally painful. But the blood that had escaped after she'd covered it had dried, forming a bit of protection, and she assumed it would heal soon. 'Soon' being a relative term, of course. Bullet holes didn't close like a door, that was for sure. But it definitely looked better than the night before.

Lilith laughed. She did that a lot today, maybe she'd had more than she wanted to admit the night before. "So, if it's a natural reaction, how does it help? Come on, if they have a gun in the other hand, it's not gonna stop them."

"True." admitted Jack. "But, killing by hand or knife is much more quiet. Even plasma swords like Zer0's are near silent. So, if someone came into the HQ, it's more likely than not that they'd opt for something other than a firearm."

Gaige backed off, satisfied the wound had healed, and slightly anxious as to how this conversation would end. She was glad Jack was talking to her again, but she was worried it would be a one-off. Meanwhile, Lilith reached a hand towards Jack, trying to provoke the same reaction.

In one swift movement, Jack reached his left hand across his body again, and grabbed her wrist. This time, however, he moved his palm into hers, supporting her weight. His left hand slid up her arm, stopping above her elbow, and he twisted his torso, throwing her mass over the bed. She landed, legs out and her bum slightly off the floor, her head resting on the bed. Jacks right hand had moved up to her wrist, suspending her from touching the ground, and his left arm had doubled back the elbow, so his forearm held her in a choke hold. The surprised look in Lilith's eyes said a lot, especially when she turned to notice his were still closed, and he was still laid down. "Point proven?" he let go, her bum making contact with the floor with a soft thud.

"Yeah, yeah. Jeez." She rubbed her butt. "You're stronger than you look."

"Not strong", he responded, reverting back to laying down with his arm by his side, though now his left elbow was bent, and his forearm rested across his stomach. "Advanced judo. Zer0 taught it to me ages ago."

"So you two were quite close?" asked Gaige. She knew they'd worked together, but closeness was not something she expected of Zer0.

"I suppose. We did thirty or so missions together before we lost contact. It wasn't that long, a mission taking two or three days on average roughly. He taught me a heck of a lot. And we kind of built an understanding."

"An understanding?" aasked Lilith, retaking her seat on the mentioned assassin's bed.

"Yes." replied Jack. "Where do you think he's been the last few days?"

"Contracts?"

"No. He's been preparing."

"Preparing? For what?" asked Lilith, surprised. Zer0 was always prepared. He was by far the most reliable of the group, unless it came to mechanics. In that category, it was definitely Gaige.

"Remember when I turned up and saw Zer0?"

"Yeah." replied Gaige. She also remembered the expectation she had for him. You know, the one that had been completely wrong. "You were surprised."

"No, I wasn't" replied Jack, simply. Everyone had seen the look on his face, the shock in his voice, and it struck the girls as odd that he was lying to them. "I pretended. Everyone knows Zer0 is working as a vault hunter, correct?"

Lilith thought about it. "That's true. So, why pretend?"

"Well. I was offered a contract to eliminate you guys." Lilith and Gaige stared, feeling as if the blood in their veins had suddenly been replaced by ice. "Though I didn't take it." he continued. "A lot of the time, more difficult contracts are set in privacy. Voice changers over ECHO, payment dropped in a deserted location, the works. Especially when it's something like this, without reason. It's normally a grudge of sorts. And it means we can't trace it." He took a pause, taking a breath. "The one thing that would surprise an assassin more than anything else,within reason, is when a group target includes another assassin, if they didn't know about it. True?"

Lilith and Gaige nodded, before realising his eyes were closed, and responded simply with "Yes."

"Zer0 knows this too. It happened to us when we were working together on an infiltration into a bunch of gun smugglers. Anyway, the best way to show him there's an assassination contract on you guys, is to act surprised at seeing him, even though I clearly would know he was there."

"Why didn't you tell us?" asked Lilith. She didn't seem angry. More worried.

"Because. You're a siren. You're naturally hot-blooded. It's no coincidence both you and Maya are like that, and it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if Steele had the same trait. Angel, even."

Lilith nodded her agreement, remembering the enemy she'd so desperately tried to seek out for answers, and also the way Angel had, instead of seeking a bond with her father in her final moments, insulted him. "True."

"You'd have sent everyone out immediately. Trying to find the one who set the contract by sheer force. I wanted Zer0 to do this, because tracking someone who places such cautionary boundaries between themselves and the assassin they hire is difficult. It would take me a thousand years, and I still wouldn't have a clue. Zer0, however.." he paused. Taking another breath. "Zer0 is an incredible assassin. Whereas my skill comes as a side effect of experimentation, his are earned. Because of that, he's a much more useful asset when it comes to operations that require more finesse to fix the complications."

"So..Zer0's tracking them down?" asked Lilith, still slightly in shock, though understanding had begun to fill her face.

"Yes, and no. It's rare an assassin would go up against Zer0. The last one who tried was never heard of again. I don't know all the details, but I heard he set an ambush using paid-off bandits, then set a trap where he was meant to be held. He booby trapped it, quite obviously, and then set proximity mines on the best shooting positions he could find. The poor bloke saw the booby traps, then retreated to a distance, and blew up. A double façade, I suppose you could call it."

"Wow, I didn't know Zer0 was so experienced."

"He's an assassin, of course he is. Point is, the only assassins I know of who would take the job would be Athena, and I doubt she'd attack you guys after your help taking down General Knoxx."

Lilith smiled, remembering the former Crimson Lance assassin. "Yeah. She was a massive help to us. I still have her gun around here somewhere."

"So, if assassin's won't take it, the next best option would be..."

Gaige gasped. "An army!"

"Well, kind of. Some groups operate as large mercenary factions. I don't know how powerful the person is, so it could be that, or a robot army. Or, a military of paid off bandits."

Lilith slapped her head. "Not more robots. Please, no more robots."

Jack finally sat up, and opened his eyes. "Well, now you know. You can explain to the others, but I'd guess it'll be another couple of months at least before Zer0 comes back to us with anything. I'd just suggest we all take what jobs are hanging around, raid more often, and collect as much money as we can, so we can buy some new toys when the time comes."

Lilith looked a little down. "I only have shock and incendiary SMG's. When I was the Firehawk, I had to share stuff around to all the bandits to keep up the cover. I haven't had a chance to restock."

Jack pulled his bag out from under the bed, pulled out a packet off cigarettes, ripped off the plastic around it and pulled out one side of the shiny foil inside. Lighting up one of the cigarettes, he held out his left, and a small, black pistol materialised in his hand. "Here."

He threw it to Lilith. She looked stunned. "Wait, I can just have this?"

"Yeah. Look after it though. Clean it, I haven't used it in a while, and if it jams you're in a heap of trouble. It's corrosive e-tech, modified, shoots two projectiles at a time and they can curve up to a metre towards a target in no wind, over two hundred yards. Not that much of an advantage, but it helps."

"Thanks!" said Lilith, looking it over. Dirt had spattered the barrel, and she guessed the inside needed a bit of a wash, but she'd get round to that. Or, she'd get Marcus' too, if she felt trusting.

"No problem. Gaige, I trust you have enough guns?" She nodded.

"One thing though.." she said, meekly. "I got Marcus to have a look at one of the guns...you know, the one sniper I picked up?" Anger flashed in Jack's eyes, the thought of her trying to sell one of his gifts to her making a feeling of distaste bubble up inside. "I wasn't going to sell it!" she added quickly, noticing the look on his face. "I just wanted to know..."

"And?" asked Lilith, not taking her eyes from her new gun. Well, new to her.

"Well...he said he'd never seen one before. But he estimated 350,000 dollars.."

Lilith whistled, then looked at Jack. "Looks like you got one with expensive taste." Gaige had to admit, she was thankful Lilith was acting as if they were still together. It gave her hope.

Jack looked at her, the anger gone, and he laughed. "Well duh. Maliwan snipers are expensive. I don't know why you got one, mind you. I've never seen you use one. And it was a specific build, made to be the best, not budget. The president takes his specialist guns very seriously."

"Well...thank you." she said, leaning forward and kissing him on the cheek. Jack was surprised at her, but not as surprised as she was. Oh god, she'd just hurt him so badly, then kissed him on the cheek. She expected him to get mad, to assume she'd taken everything to be fine.

The shock passed from Jack's face, being replaced by a smile. "That's quite alright." he laughed. A burning crept up her cheek, and she felt herself looking at the floor. Lilith laughed too, noticing the blush.

"Well, I'm starved. You guys wanna hit Moxxi's?" She noticed the look Jack gave her. "I won't be drinking." She assured, returning the look.

"Sure." said Jack, standing. Gaige stayed where she was, looking at the floor. She never felt this embarrassed, ever. If she stood on people's toes, woopty do, they should get over it. But actually making such complications with someone she cared about somehow made her terrified.

"Gaige, you coming?" asked Lilith. Gaige replied with a grunt. Lilith shrugged, and left.

"Hey." it was Jack, standing at the end of the bed. "Come on. I'll pay." He offered his hand.

Smiling, Gaige gladly took it, just happy to feel his hand against hers again.


	17. 17 - Cleanup Duty

**#MoreFiller**

* * *

Before leaving the HQ, Jack had grabbed his hoodie, slipping his right arm into it, and doing it up. His left arm still hung at his side, underneath the hoodie and with the hand in his jean pocket. "Why do you wear your coat like that?" asked Lilith, as the walked into the entrance to Moxxi's that faced Earl's.

Jack shrugged. "I learnt a lot about close-combat fighting. This just happens to be the easiest stance I know.

Lilith was going to ask how, and laugh, but then she remembered when she made a similar comment not twenty minutes before, in the guys bedroom.

They sat at a booth, Jack next to Gaige, opposite Lilith. The bar empty was completely at this time in the morning. "Hey, Mox!" called Lilith. "Could we get a couple pizza's over here? Don't care if it's cold."

"Sure thing sugar". Moxxi strode over, two boxes stacked on top of each other.

"Wanna sit down?" asked Jack. Lilith and Gaige gave him an odd look as Lilith flipped open the top box. "What?" he asked. "It's deserted in here until the drunks roll in. Might as well have a break." He looked at Moxxi.

"I like this one." She laughed. "Manners are a rare thing here on Pandora. Before I do, you guys want any drinks?"

Lilith and Gaige just wanted water, but Jack asked for a rakk ale. This drew more looks from the two girls. Jack hadn't drunk any alcohol since his first night here, as far as they knew.

"Coming right up." Moxxi grabbed the drinks, plus a glass of water for herself,walked back to the booth, and sat down. Seeing Jack take the bottle of rakk ale, she began standing up again. "Damn, forgot the bottle opener. Bare with me, sweetie."

"Don't worry, I got it." Jack hooked the bottle lid under one of his canine teeth, and pulled it down, twisting slightly. The lid popped off with a soft noise, and fell towards the seat, where he caught it with his left hand.

"Nice trick." Moxxi laughed. "Though you're gonna have teeth like Marcus if you do it too often."

"I know, I know. But anything to save the pretty lady some effort." He took a swig, and Gaige felt jealous again, but she didn't think it was her place to complain, considering the thin ice she was already on. Jack let up another cigarette, and took a long drag.

"I _definitely _like this one" laughed Moxxi. "So, you lot been busting bandit skulls?"

"Meh" answered Lilith, her voice muffled by the slice of pizza hanging out of her mouth. She quickly swallowed it. "Brick's been handling it. Things've been surprisingly slow."

"What about you, sugar?" This time, it was aimed directly at Gaige.

Gaige looked up, meeting with Moxxi's eyes. She was sat, head resting on her hand, with her elbow resting on the table. She looked amused as she looked at Gaige, as if she knew something. Gaige didn't reply verbally, instead just pointing at Jack.

"Oh." Moxxi replied, a knowing grin on her face. She leant forward, her hand now covering the space between them and Jack, as school kids often did when they whisper in an attempt to avoid the teacher's notice. Because for some reason, they seem to believe a hand up to their mouth is less noticeable than their lips moving. "So." she whispered, looking sideways at Jack. "Is he any good?" she winked.

Lilith slapped Moxxi's hand as Gaige blushed even more, the red patch having been on her face since Jack took her hand back at HQ. "They haven't done anything yet Moxxi._"_

Yet? Jack didn't seem the type to push it, but did he want that? It seemed expected of her from Moxxi, even Lilith in a way. She felt a hand touch hers, which was under the table, and she looked up at Jack. He gently shook his head, but kept his hand on hers. She hoped Moxxi hadn't noticed. She did.

"Kind, sweet, and understanding?" She whistled, the glint not leaving her eye the whole time. "You sure you want that, sugar? I can take him off your hands." She winked.

"Moxxi!" Lilith stated, shocked. Thinking back, she didn't know why. Moxxi was like the sex queen. Even without touching people, her body was a weapon, and she definitely used it. "He's sixteen!"

Moxxi shrugged. "He's mature. And cute." She took another sip of water. "Well, looks like the brutes are coming in." To the side, a group of men had walked in. Gaige counted eight. Moxxi, getting up, walked to the bar. "What can I get you, sugar?"

The largest of the men, not thickly built but quite tall, glanced at her, the towards the tables. "We're looking for a 'Jack'." His eyes met Jack's. "No help needed."

He approached the table, and slammed his hand down on it, knocking Lilith's half-eaten pizza in the air for a moment. "Now. Get up." Jack stood. "So. I hear you had a bit of a..meeting with a few friends of mine." Jack's facial expression stayed neutral. "Something about keeping him from a girl." Glancing at both Lilith and Gaige, he continued "One of these two, I assume?" Jack stayed standing, not showing any emotion. "You left them with some pretty bad burns, you know. I think it's time for some justice!" He raised his fist.

Gaige expected Jack to retaliate, but he just took the punch to the face. Lilith started standing, but Jack looked at her and shook his head. "Are you satisfied now?" He asked the angered man before him.

"Not even close." He grinned, throwing another punch. His gang came close, laughing, and sneering. Jack took four more punches, three to the stomach, and one to the face. The brute laughed.

"How about now?" asked Jack again, his face still neutral.

"No" the man replied, in a low voice. His grin spread as he looked at Gaige. "I think we'll be taking her too."

"No, I don't think you will." replied Jack, calmly.

He laughed again, pushing his hand to his hip, revealing a small pistol. It was better-made than the ones wielded by the idiots that had tried to make a move on Gaige before, but still shoddy, with dirt clinging to the roughly cut metal that stuck out from the sides. Jack looked at him, unimpressed. His face was already starting to bruise lightly, but he didn't seem bothered.

Lilith went to stand again, but this time it was Gaige who stopped her. She pulled her back down by the arm, and mouthed to her. "Watch."

The man pulled out his gun, aiming it at Jack, his free hand tensed slightly and raised, almost like a boxing stance. He clearly had little experience firing the weapon. "Goodbye" he sneered at Jack, slowly squeezing the trigger.

Jack was suddenly right in front of him, much closer than before. His left arm shot out from where it rested at his side, pulling his hoodie up slightly. It grabbed the man's free hand, twisting him as he pulled him closer. He held him in a choke hold, the mans back to him. As Lilith watched, he took his right hand from the mans throat, and launched a punch into his lower spine, not putting a massive amount of force in to it. She expect him to grunt at best.

What she didn't expect was for the bandage to rip off Jack's arm before contact, and what looked like a writhing black and crimson semi-liquid/semi-solid spike to protrude from the mans front, impaling two more of the men. His arm retracted, leaving all three dead.

The remaining men were shocked for a second, before pulling their guns out as well. Most of these were even worse-made than the first. Maybe Marcus made a business out of turning tin cans into firearms and selling them on to morons.

His arm shout out again, taking the head off one of the men. Before it had come back fully, he disappeared, and reappeared behind them. Grabbing the mans gun hand in from an odd position, due to his short stature, he pulled the trigger finger back, which went through the heart of one of his friends. Then, twisting, he broke his wrist, and fired the gun into the wielder. The final two had only just managed to turn, firing too soon in their arc of rotation and missing entirely, even from this short distance. He managed to hit one of them, open palm, in the nose. The bone slid upwards, hitting the brain with enough force to kill him. Only one man remained standing, and his gun was aimed directly at Jack, terror in his eyes.

"Don't move!" he shouted, his voice wavering. "Raise your hands, and don't try anything stupid. Jack turned, raised his hands, and looked the man dead in the eye. His hoodie rode of because of his left arm, and his bandage, still torn, hung from his right. He winced slightly, the movement on his left causing a pain in the wound the bandits of yesterday had inflicted on him.

"You have three seconds to put the gun down, and run." Gaige wondered for a second what the man was talking about, before realising it was Jack who had spoken. Lilith just stood, wide eyed at Jack's destructive power. Wasn't quite up to scratch with sirens, but it was still unexpected.

"Or what? I'll shoot!" The man shouted, still terror-stricken.

Jack's eyes flashed dark red, something Gaige hadn't noticed previously. The man yelped, his gun dropping to the floor, aflame. "Tut, tut, tut." Jack said, slowly, sarcastically. "Someone didn't use their inside voice."

The man turned and tried to run, but tripped on one of his dead allies. He turned and began crawling backwards, but Jack stepped on his ankle, preventing his movement. "Now. You're going to do something for me." The man just nodded, a wet patch forming between his legs. "You are going to go and see your friends who sent you. And you are going to tell them that, should they ever show their face around any one of my friends, which includes Miss Moxxi over there, I will kill them slowly, and so, so very painfully." He moved his foot up the man's leg, applying pressure to the kneecap. The man yelped again, but nodded, tears forming in his eyes. "Now, get out of my sight."

The man got up and ran. Jack turned to Moxxi, who was clapping. "WOO, encore!"

"Uh...wow." was all Lilith could say.

"You okay?" he asked Gaige. When she nodded, he turned to Moxxi. "Sorry about the mess, Ma'am."

"Ma'am? Oh, there you go making me feel all special inside." She gave another flirtatious wink, and smiled. "As for the mess, it's not the first time it's happened. Though, normally the other way round with who bites the dust. Just chuck them over the edge, it's better than they deserve." She spat on one of the corpses, it's flesh singed from the burning gun that had fallen right next to it.

Jack dragged two of the corpses to the door, and rolled them off the edge. Sanctuary was far too high in the sky for them to visible for long, and they plummeted into the hole that decorated the earth where Sanctuary once sat.

Gaige called him back, and he sat down. "Don't worry, Death Trap will get this." She deployed him, and ordered him to throw them off of Sanctuary. It looked depressed, the AI she'd installed in it slightly disappointed in such a mundane task, but it carried it out without hesitation. Scooping up the five remaining bodies in it's thick metal claws, Death Trap hovered out the door.

"Uh...Well then." This voice came from the doorway facing Scooters, where Maya stood, leaning on the door. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised." She went to slide into the seat next to Lilith, but she stopped her. "Let's go over there, we need to talk." Lilith took her to the side, and began telling to her about the possible contract collectively on their heads.

"So?" asked Maya. "We all have bounties on us. I guess Jack would too. What's the difference?"

"A bounty isn't a contract." She explained. "With a bounty, people might have a go, as and when. A contract means we're their first priority. And they're not just bandits, trying to make a living. They've got to experienced killers. They know what they're doing."

Lilith and Maya carried on discussing, and Jack stopped listening. "You okay?" asked Gaige, slightly concerned the confrontation had opened his wound again.

"Bit sore, but nothing the bandage won't hold for now."

"For now?" She asked. "We've got nowhere else to be. Lilith seems to be taking care of explaining, if she needs the others to know she'll just ECHO them. If it needs patching up, Zed will be open by now."

He looked at her, maintaining eye contact. "I do have somewhere else to be. Here. With you." He smiled, breaking the gaze to take a swig of his ale, before taking his hoodie off. "It's far too warm in here." he said, dropping the hoodie into the pile next to him.

"Really?" Gaige asked, sensing an opportunity. Shuffling closer to Jack, she continued "I'm kind of cold."

Jack laughed, understanding, and put his arm around her. She leant on his shoulder, happy to be close to him again. She'd worried he'd never take her back, never even talk to her again. "So.." he asked, looking down, into her eyes. "You gonna learn to use that sniper?"

"Only if you teach me." She replied, playfully.

"Of course. But only if you dress different again."

"Why? Couldn't keep your eyes off me?" She teased.

"I can never keep my eyes off you." He grinned.


	18. 18 - We Have a Shower?

**So, at this point, I got bored writing if I'm honest. I've been busy af, and the next like four or so chapters are the same. By the time I've finished my day, I'm in no state mentally to write. So yeah, sorry. This is effectively a few filler chapters, and I couldn't remember any of the missions. So my friend gave me a rough description of one, and I chucked it in, hence why it's most likely incredibly wrong.**

* * *

Gaige found herself, at the HQ alone, with Jack. Axton and Salvador had returned, and sat at Moxxi's. They claimed it was because they guessed it was where Lilith and Maya would be, but everyone knew they were just trying to load up on more beer. Gaige guessed Lilith would be explaining the contract to them. Mordecai had stayed home, and had apologised in advance for the next week, saying Bloodwing Junior was his main priority until it at least partially matured. No one was mad, mind you. They were all just pleased Mordecai had another Bloodwing.

Both Gaige and Jack sat on the sofa, the latter finishing re-wrapping the bandage on his right arm, and Gaige feeling uncomfortable. She remembered Moxxi's words. 'Is he any good?' She looked at Jack, seeking clarity as to what to do.

But as she looked at him, she realised he was already looking at her. "Whatcha thinking?"

She blushed at the question that had been so clear in her mind a moment ago. "Nothing."

"Gaige, you're blushing. You only do that when you're complimented, or someone mentions something sexual. I haven't said anything, and no one's ECHOing you. You're either thinking inappropriate thoughts, or you're thinking about what Moxxi said."

She looked at him, wondering how he'd worked it out. Now she felt weak, easy to read, vulnerable. He noticed the look on her face, and held her hand in his. "Yeah, I was, uh, thinking." she stumbled over words. "Did you, uh, want to have sex?"

Jack looked blank for a second, then burst out laughing. "Gaige, we've been seeing each other for what, a few hours? If you count the argument as an end. Isn't that a bit soon? Trust me, I'd love to. I'm sixteen, duh. But, you mean more to me than that. And I don't want to rush things. Is that okay with you?"

She nodded, cuddling up to him. Damn. "And I don't blush when someone compliments me." She said, defiantly. "Just when you do."

This made Jack smile, and he gently stroked his hand up and down her side. It was meant to be comforting, but instead she found even this gentle touch turned her on. Shit. She clenched her eyes closed, despite the unwanted feeling of exhaustion washing over her.

* * *

Lilith came in, planning to crash on the couch. But as she turned left, she saw Gaige curled up, asleep on the couch, with Jack sleeping with his arm round her. She smiled, and called the other vault hunters in. "Cute, right?"

Salvador and Axton looked confused, and Maya couldn't help but giggle. "You guys are so oblivious!"

"Eh _chica_, didn't see that coming."

Axton laughed. "Sixteen years old and getting an 18 year old. Jammy little git." This received a slap from both Lilith and Maya. "Ow."

Salvador laughed, but cut himself short when he caught the look that Lilith gave him. "Anyway, better leave them to sleep it off. They've had a stressful couple days." She said.

Maya nodded her understanding, but Axton and Salvador questioned how it'd been stressful. Maya had to shake her head now. Some boys were such idiots.

The older vault hunters, save Mordecai and Zer0, were gathered round the table in the control room. They'd all rather have been in the living area, but they'd left Gaige and Jack to themselves. Lilith had her hands wrapped round a steaming mug of god-knows-what. She didn't really care what either, the temperature had suddenly dropped, and she'd given her coat to Maya. Besides Maya being her friend, it was also incredibly embarrassing for them both if Maya just wore her usual tight attire, as it didn't leave much to the imagination as to how her nipples were reacting to the cold.

They talked a little, mostly about baby Bloodwing. Mordecai had explained its species developed and matured incredibly quickly, but they didn't know how quickly. Most of them guessed a few weeks or months until it was close to the original Bloodwing. Brick, on the other hand, seemed to expect it to be there already. Then again, anything that isn't instant is too long for that guy.

A knocking drew their attention away from the conversation, and to Gaige, who stood, peeking round the doorway. "Anyone seen Jack?"

"I thought he was downstairs, with you?" She archer her eyebrow. The look on her face was appearing far too often, but she felt she needed to play the big sister role to Gaige in this, which meant the subtle teasing too.

"Well, he was when I fell asleep. But I just woke up, and he's gone." She rubbed her eyes and yawned. "Suppose I best go shower, and hit the notice board. I'll catch you guys later."

Axton looked surprised. "We have a shower?"

The girls all simultaneously rolled their eyes, and Gaige left without bothering to explain. Which was fine, as Maya decided to. "Yes? In the bathroom? That little shut away bit in the corner?"

"Bathroom?" Both he and Salvador asked, and Maya had to grin at their confusion. Some people were such idiots.

* * *

Gaige felt great. She'd finished up modifying Death Trap, to which she'd added an ECHO receiver so she could contact it over long distances, had a shower, and was now heading towards the notice board in Sanctuary. There normally wasn't much on there, but from time to time something would pop up. She wished Jack was here to go with her. She didn't need him, she was more than capable by herself. Or, more precisely, herself and Death Trap. She just wanted to spend some time with him.

Since she'd come to Pandora, killing had been the only thing she really did. Guns, Death Trap, and shooting the crap out of anyone who looked mildly suspicious was the norm for a vault hunter. Besides that, she didn't have any real interests, and though Jack had probably killed more enemies than her, it was different. He stayed at a distance, and took them down quietly, or kept his calm and annihilated them quickly. Sure, every battle needed some sort of plan, with the exception of just blowing up bandits, but he was almost surgical about it. She almost felt sorry for him, not being able to experience the rush, the adrenaline that met the body in response to blood and bullets, surrounding you in the heat of conflict like a storm.

She said hello to Johnny Waffles, who stood at his regular place next to the board. He looked her up and down, and gave a cheeky wink. She stuck her middle finger up, then ignored him.

None of the jobs really intrigued her. This was probably because of the fact that very few missions actually reached Sanctuary, despite its vault hunters being some of the few people to take them. The one she did take was headlined 'Clan War'. It didn't look particularly difficult, being set in The Dust and all. She'd just made the conscious decision to accept it, more due to it being set by Ellie than because of the reward, when a hand on her shoulder made her jump.

"Hey." She turned to see Jack, an amused smile painted across his mouth. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare ya." Oddly, he seemed to be swaying slightly.

"It's fine." She replied, then realised what she had admitted. "I wasn't scared!"

"Sure." He gave a sarcastic nod, then looked at the bounty bored. "Anything good?"

"Nah, just bits and bobs. I think I'm gonna take this one." She pointed to the 'Clan War' mission.

"Fair enough. Need any help with that?"

"Nah, I don't need help. However, if you want to tag along, feel free." She stuck her tongue out.

Jack gave a sarcastic sigh. "Read my mind."

"So, where were you? Ditching me while I'm asleep, you meanie."

"Meanie? Oh that hurts, Gaige. Nah, had to go stock up on ammo from Marcus'. I planned on being back before you woke up, but I saw you out here."

"Buying ammo? I had the time to sort out Death Trap, and have a shower. You can't have just been buying ammo."

"Okay, okay. Maybe me and Marcus had a few drinks, few special cigarettes."

"Special?" She asked, looking sceptical.

Jack paused for a second, staring at the sky. "Woah, that looks like a turtle." He said, pointing. Then he snapped out of it. "Yeah, sort of. Don't worry about it. You want me along on this, or would you rather go on solo?"

"Come on then." she replied, rolling her eyes.

* * *

In The Dust, Gaige rolled the light runner into Ellie's garage, and climb out. It had taken some force to get Jack in the vehicle, but eventually he submitted. For some reason, that guy really liked walking.

"Hey cutie!" She called, standing up straight from the car she was working on. "You here to help with the clan war?"

"Yeah." replied Gaige, walking towards her. "So, how's this gonna go down?"

"See that dynamite?" She pointed to two bits of dynamite, sat on a box across the garage. "I need you to grab that. There's two clans around here, the Hodunks, and the Zafords. Lately, they been getting all close. I don't like that." Her face looked annoyed, but not angry. "I got each of their emblems on some vehicles out back. If you can grab them, and blow up their stuff with each others emblems, they're gonna get all angry again!"

"Okay." Gaige shrugged. The mission seemed pointless, as Ellie gained nothing, but a lot of the missions set recently didn't seem to bring any gain to the person who set them. More often than not, it was a sort of revenge, or for pure entertainment value.

Ellie seemed just to notice Jack. "And who's this cutie?" It wasn't flirting. Not really. She said it to almost everyone who wasn't a bandit.  
"My boyfriend." Said Gaige, smiling. It still felt good to be able to say it.

"Ooooh, you go girl" Ellie replied, looking at Jack. "Now, chop chop, those guys ain't gonna blow themselves up! You know, otherwise I wouldn't be setting this mission for you."

Gaige picked up the dynamite as Jack walked round back to grab the emblems. "He is _cute_" Ellie whispered. Despite the massive difference between her and her mother, Moxxi, she still managed to flirt just as much. Albeit, nowhere near as intensely.

After a couple of minutes, and the screams of several interfering spiderants, Jack came back into the shop. "Where are the emblems?" Asked Ellie, confused.

Jack looked at her oddly. "Oh, right, yeah, you haven't met me before. My apologies. My name's Jack, nice to meet you. And as to the emblems, don't worry, I have 'em."

"Where?" asked Ellie, looking around him. "And I'm Ellie. Howdy." She was still looking.

"Jack can de-digistruct and re-digistruct small objects near at will." Gaige explained. "It's awesome!"

Ellie looked disbelieving for a second, then accepted it. She'd heard weirder things that had turned out to be true. "Whatever, just get rollin'!"

Gaige climbed into the drivers seat, not quite trusting Jack's ability behind the wheel since he always walked, and set off. Jack had already teleported into the gunner seat, which she'd been counting on. They headed for the Hodunk speedway. "Hey, Jack?"

"Yeah, cutie?" He mimicked Ellie's accent, and Gaige couldn't help but giggle. "Sorry, I'm a bad person. Yes?"

"Could you do something for me? I know you prefer quick kills and all, but could you just like, use a SMG this once? You just don't get the same rush from being all stealthy." Jack looked like he was going to complain, until she reminded him "I'm making an effort to learn to use a sniper, like you."

Jack grunted, then sighed. "Fine. But I'm still not using a shield."

"Why?" asked Gaige, worried. She'd thought he didn't bother with a shield because he was out of range of most attackers when he killed. With that thought, she'd just assumed that he'd wear a shield when in mid-range combat. "You have to. If you get shot, it'd be all my fault."

Jack laughed. "Don't worry about that, I'll be fine."

They pulled up at the Hodunk Speedway, and jumped out. All of the clan seemed occupied with the large amount of alcohol they'd managed to acquire, singing and dancing around fires. God knows why, it was only mid-afternoon, both the heat and the light provided by the flames were completely unnecessary. No complaints from the two vault hunters, though. Just made the dynamite planting a lot easier.

As Gaige had nearly finished securing it in place, one of the clan, drunk to an extent that Mordecai would've been proud of, noticed them, and wondered over. "What cha dooooin?" he slurred, wobbling on the spot. He then proceeded to vomit, and fall to his knees.

Gaige went for her pistol, but Jack had already picked the man up. He rubbed some dirt onto one of his legs with the bottom of his shoe, and took the drunk mans hat. Pulling the hat down half over his face, he purposefully forced a wobble into his own step. "Guys!" he called, failing the pronunciation of the last consonant. "I think he needs to lay down." Two Hodunks, both wobbling from side to side like demented children's toys, came over and took his weight from Jack. They then proceeded to carry him back to the fire they were previously dancing around, and all kiss the floor simultaneously as their body's control ebbed away, leaving the alcohol in charge.

Jack returned to the light runner, where Gaige was waiting. "Well, that was smoother than expected. Got the Zaford's mark on it and everything, I take it?"

"Yeah. Nice moves" She laughed. "Could've just killed him though. Half of them will probably go down with the explosion anyway.

"True." agreed Jack. "But, if we were in an all-out firefight while right next to dynamite, who do you think would come worse off? Now, let's get out of here and get that baby blown."


	19. 19 - Clan Wars

"Guys.." came a voice from the door. Everyone immediately recognised it as Mordecai's, but there was something different about the way he spoke. Almost as if he was trying to play the entertainer at a kids party. "Guess who's here to see you."

"Is it, uh, I dunno, Mordecai?"

"Shush Lilith, you'll ruin the surprise." Brick interrupted.

Mordecai came in, his left side still half hidden behind the door frame. "And?"

"Ooh, ooh, ooh, is it Tina? I bet it's Tina." Brick really needed something more intelligent in his life. Good thing for him that bandits rarely looked at wisdom for leadership.

"Nope." Mordecai walked into the room fully. On his shoulder, sat Bloodwing Junior. "He's allowed to come out now!" Mordecai grinned, and sounded proud. "It won't be long before he can fly as well. Ain't that right, little guy?" He stroked the bird gently, and it reacted by rubbing its head against his.

"Aww" was the collective reaction received from this. They may all be battle-hardened, veteran killers. But, there was nothing cuter than a baby. This was true for most species. Though, for some reason, only to females when it was human babies.

Spiderantlings, not so cute. Skag pups are relatively cute. Baby bloodwings weren't quite as cute as the vault hunters found it, but it was Mordecai's, and so similar to the original that they had all known and loved. Now dog pups, or just puppies. Those things are fucking adorable.

"So, when are Jack and Gaige gonna have their babies?" came a voice from behind Mordecai. Tina sprung into the room, heading straight for Brick. "BRIIIIIICKK"

Brick let out a laugh as he caught the small, blonde-haired cannonball. "Knew it was Tina."

"Briiick, can we go give the pow-pow to bandits?"

"Sure thing Tina." He looked around at the other vault hunters. "Guess I'm going, guys. You need anything Tina?"

"Nah, I got my badonkadonks with me, and I don't need no guns."

Lilith looked at her. She knew Tina well, but she never ceased to surprise her. It was like she was formed from everything a 13 year old would never be. "But guns are a girls best friend."

"Nuh uh, Lilly." She replied, dragging Brick to the top of the stairs. "I think you mean C4. See ya later BITCHES!" She disappeared down the stairs with Brick, and they could hear the hulking mass' steps, heavy on the ground, trying to keep up with the hyper child.

"Well that was, uh...interesting?"

Mordecai laughed. "Sorry. But Tina's a Crimson Raider too. And if she needs to ride on someone's shoulders into a massive battle, I guess no one's more qualified than Brick."

"Wouldn't be the first time." agreed Lilith.

* * *

Gaige and Jack pulled up at Ellie's garage. "What you two doing here? You can't have blown up both already?"

"Nah." Replied Gaige, getting down from the vehicle. "It's faster to come back here and fast travel to Overlook. If that's okay, Ellie."

"Course it is! You two come back here whenever you like." She turned back and continued working on the car infront of her. This was relatively normal with Ellie as, like Scooter, she was incredibly gifted when it came to vehicles.

Gaige hit the button, Jack close behind her. They arrived in Overlook, Gaige blinking the remains of the bright lights from her eyes. The chill had set in even worse now, the light from the Pandoran sun beginning to fade. It must only have been four or five, but it was that time of year. She shivered, and heard a zipping noise from her right. She turned to see Jack removing his hoodie, and offered it to her. She took it gratefully, but felt bad about how the temperature would effect him. "Don't worry." he said, smiling. "When we get back, you can warm me up." He winked and walked off. Dammit, this was not the time to be blushing.

Thankfully, the majority of the Zafords were inside the brewery that situated in this small town. Unfortunately, the ones who didn't weren't drunk enough to be fooled by one of Jack's acts. "Oi!" they called. "What'd you think you're doing?"

"Just get the dynamite set." whispered Jack. Gaige nodded her head to show she understood, grabbing the dynamite that Jack digistructed behind his back. She had to move the hood from her, which had blown over due to the wind this high place picked up.

"Sorry, sir, we were just passing through." answered Jack, to what Gaige assumed was meant to be the guard.

"What's she doing over there?" he asked, waving a gun at Gaige, but not keeping his eyes off Jack.

"She's uh.."

"Oi, girl! What you doing crouched over there?"

"She was bending down to...you know.." Jack tried to act like a kid caught in an embarrassing moment, and looked down at his groin.

"Oh!" the guard laughed, as did the two or three who had begun listening to the conversation from the door. It seemed they refused to smoke too close to the distillery, but Jack didn't know enough about how alcohol was brewed and such to know if that was due to safety, or manners. He hoped safety, as starting a war between people with manners annoyed him.

The guard slapped Jack's shoulder, still chuckling. "Well boy, not the best place to be doing it. Go find somewhere else." The other guards wolf-whistled.

"Thanks sir." Jack replied, looking at the ground. He walked over to Gaige, and whispered "You done yet?"

She nearly had. She really nearly had. But his words to the guard had thrown her off, and filled her head with inappropriate images.

The guard shouted another warning as Gaige stood. "Done. Though if we put the emblem here it's gonna blow right out of Overlook. Best just place it somewhere nearby."

They both walked back towards the fast travel station, and dropped the small sign of the Hodunk's apparent involvement into the dirt. They could feel the guards eyes on them, and it relieved Gaige immensely when the bright blue light took hold of her vision again.

* * *

"Oh, whats this?" asked Lilith, peeling a sheet of paper off the bounty board. It was perfectly straight, obviously newly placed. "1,000,000 dollars?" she gasped. That was a lot for one mission. If she took Mordecai, Maya, Axton and Salvador, that would be 200,000 each, a great start to arming themselves for the incoming threat that Jack had warned them about.

She ECHO'd the others, and within a minute they'd arrived to read the mission. The HQ was near in the middle of Sanctuary, and so it was close to everything, including the bounty board. This was great for the vault hunters, as they could check it on the way back from Moxxi's, or Marcus' with a short detour.

Axton whistled. "Damn. That's a lot of cash."

"Yeah." Agreed Maya. "You could buy almost enough beer to last you the week."

Axton grinned, before realising this was an insult. "Hey, at least I don't waste the money on make-up."

"Actually." cut in Lilith, "Make up is cheaper than beer, and lasts a lot longer. Now quit squabbling, both of you. You're like a pair of kids."

Mordecai just laughed, having kept out of the argument. Maya and Axton always squabbled. It was obvious they just did it for an excuse to talk to each other. "But that looks like a hell of a job _amigo, _sure we can handle this?"

"It'll be fiiiine." Maya answered. "You have two sirens, don't worry about it."

"True." Axton actually agreed with Maya on this one. The forces he'd faced before becoming a vault hunter, the days fighting as a Dahl soldier, were nothing compared to the power he'd felt radiating off Lilith when they first met. Regardless of how sure he was of his own abilities, he wasn't so sure he'd survive an encounter with angry Lilith.

"Settled! Let's go." Maya made her way towards the fast travel.

"Woah, woah, woah, _señorita, _I haven't read it yet." Mordecai took the sheet of paper, now slightly crumpled from being passed around. "A million dollars for a rescue mission? He must want this _chica_ badly."

Salvador grunted. "Must be a fine _señorita."_

"Hey, if they're going to over-pay, I'm not complaining." Maya waved her hand. "It's simple. We go in, we kill them, get the girl, go. Come on, it's not that different from a raid. Plus, it's the Bloodshots. We've already infiltrated like, a bazillion times. Easy." She hit the button, and de-digistructed. Everyone else collectively shrugged and followed her.

* * *

"Well, that should be long enough." Jack stood up. They'd been sitting on a step at Ellie's, waiting before continuing the mission. Gaige wanted o just go back in, but Jack reasoned that if they were caught near the distillery/pub in Overlook after the alcohol had been blown up, fingers would be pointed.

"WOO, stage two!" Ellie shouted from across the garage. She'd wanted them to go quickly too, but she couldn't fault Jack's thinking. "Go respond to the Zaford call. He'll need a hand exacting revenge."

Jack hit the fast travel button, and de-digistructed. Gaige did as well, seconds after. As the light blurred her vision, she heard Ellie's words. "You go get 'em, you sumbitch."

The light cleared, and Jack took her hand, leading her for the first few seconds that it took for the brightness to fade entirely from her vision. As soon as she'd admitted she was left disorientated by it, he'd begun helping her along for the short period. She was both grateful for it, and slightly embarrassed. She blinked the remainder away from her eyes, and Jack's hand left hers.

Within twenty seconds they were inside Overlook bar. Jack strode up to Mick Zaford, and said a few quiet words. The way his left eye closed quickly and he tilted his head suggested he wasn't ready for the loud voice of Mick. "Oh, so ye the vault hunters? Good, we need hands. Here, let me get ye a drink." He began pulling on the tap, before remembering it had been blown to pieces. "Damn Hodunks. Right, this way." He walked out from behind the bar, and walked across the bar. Jack and Gaige followed, his hand finding hers and squeezing quickly before drawing away. They didn't want to show vulnerability in front of the Zafords.

Mick led them down the stairs in the corner, and opened the door. Jack walked towards the gun vendor that was downstairs. Last time he'd been here, he'd wondered what was down here. It wasn't accessible to the public, and he wanted to know why. Gaige walked past and followed Mick, starting up a conversation about the work. Most of the guns were crap, but the deal of the day was pretty usable. A magnum-style pistol, high damage, Jakobs brand. No elemental damage, but for a Jakobs that's to be expected. He bought it, loading the gun. It was named 'Iron', and it felt decent in his hands, if a bit heavy. Yet again, to be expected from a Jakobs.

"Okay" said Gaige, pulling his arm. "We're off. I'll explain on the way.

In the runner, Gaige spoke into her ECHO. Because of the open design of the vehicles, meant for easy access and exit, talking without shouting was near-impossible. So, to solve this, they used the ECHO. She explained the basics of the mission. The Hodunks held a race on their speedway quite often. To make a celebration of it, they detonated fireworks on the final section of the track. With the explosives she'd acquired from Mick, they were going to trip the fireworks early, and blow the cars to hell. This was turning out to be her kind of mission; lots of explosives.

They'd used the fast travel to get to Ellie's, and then took the runner from there. Soon they were at the speedway, and Gaige drove the runner through the gates. The track was similar to a figure of eight design, except the last section cornered up a small hill, and onto a metal bridge, which dropped back onto the start of the track. The fireworks were on the bridge.

Driving slowly, Gaige made her way through the track. She wasn't a great driver, and didn't want to end up at the bottom of a cliff. She needn't have worried though, as the track was relatively short. Parking to the side of the track and climbing out, she placed explosives on the nearest box, and moved on to the next. Opposite her, Jack had done the same.

"Hey, chu doing down there? Aw, you checking the explosives! Nah, no need to do that, already did it myself." Initially, the voice startled Gaige, until she noticed it came from a dumb-looking pyrotechnician, sitting on an observation platform, a short ladder up from the bridge. Jack climbed it, pulling his new gun from his pocket. The technician opened his mouth to talk again, before the messages his brain was about to send to his mouth was interrupted by a bullet.

"Good call." Came Mick Zaford's voice over ECHO. "Now get up on that platform, and blow them cars sky high!"

Gaige clambered up the ladder, and sat down on the chair. It had been a long day. The control for the explosives was directly in front of her, and she could hear the car engines from the start of the track. Soon, two of the cars were on the bridge, and heading for the drop. There was no way the third would catch up, so she hit the detonator.

In a shower of sparks and blood, the cars exploded, sending shrapnel in all directions. The third car's driver made a shouting noise, before Jack took his head off with one shot from his pistol. He looked at it admiringly, before Gaige sighed. "Still not using an SMG, ya know."

Jack laughed. "Alright, come on. We should leave it a while before coming and finishing the second half of this. Let the Hafords kill off a few brain cells and forget our faces."

Gaige agreed, and jumped off the platform, getting back in the runner. Jack was already in it, having teleported ahead of her. She dropped off the edge of the bridge, and started for the exit.

"HEY!". A Hodunk leant out of his caravan, clutching a small assault rifle in his hand. He fired off a few shots, before the others joined in. For a bunch of car-obsessed morons, their shots were pretty accurate, and the runner began smoking.

"Shit!" shouted Gaige, turning to Jack. As soon as she noticed his absence, she hit the breaks.

"Don't stop." Came Jack's voice over ECHO. "I got this. Get back to Ellie's and turn in. I'll be right behind you."

Seeing the state of the runner, Gaige grudgingly obliged.


	20. 20 - Bash at the Bloodshot's Base

"Hey." The voice came from behind Gaige, and she turned. Jack was stood there, a little battered, with dust and dirt splashed like a dirty wave across his clothing.

She ran and hugged him. "You're an idiot, you know that?" she asked, pecking his cheek.

"Hey, you can't complain. You're the one who wanted me to use this." He pulled out a small SMG, with fire-red colouring on the edges.

"Ooh, look at you! Enjoy it?"

Jack shrugged. "Yeah, it was alright. Still prefer my rifle though."

Gaige shook her head. "Oh come on. The adrenaline though!"

Jack leant in close to her ear. "There are much better things we could do for an adrenaline rush though."

Gaige blushed. "Oi, not the time."

Jack grinned. "Yeah, but you like it anyway."

Gaige was about to argue, but her ECHO bleeped, interrupting her.

"Gaige, Jack, we need help." It was Maya.

* * *

The mission was supposed to be simple. Break in, get the target, break out. But, as soon as they got there, the vault hunters realised it wasn't quite going to be that simple.

The first few rooms were empty, save for the stains and rubbish that were always commonplace in bandit hideaways. However, upon reaching Satan's Sinkhole, a midget psycho ran at them.

Axton quickly aimed, and fired half a round of his assault rifle. The midget soon disintegrated, and they continued.

It wasn't the resistance that worried them. It was the lack thereof. The next encounter wasn't until they'd got to the top of the stairs.

Littering the walkway, minus their heads, were the corpses of the resident bandits.

No one was disgusted by the sight; living on Pandora had built up their stomachs. But, it did shock them.

"What the...?" asked Lilith, wide eyed.

"I don't know, _señorita, _but I don't like it."

Axton ignored his gaping companions, and inspected the closest bodies. "Combination of burns, bullets, and what looks like brute impact."

Everyone sighed. This was not a good day. "Loaders." Lilith summed up.

Not everyone was downbeat about the discovery that they'd be rescuing from loaders. Trying to be prepared, the Sirens had brought incendiary weapons, and Mordecai had brought his slagged rifle, hoping to back up the fiery effects of the other two. Axton and Salvador didn't rely heavily on elementally charged weapons, instead rating guns on brute force.

Axton had a Dahl assault rifle, which worked perfectly well on most enemies, loaders included. Salvador had a bandit made rocket launcher, and a Torgue assault rifle. He might claim not to have favourites, but everyone knew the tough little man had a thing for explosive guns. It was a running private joke that he was trying to make up for his height.

They all carried on, Salvador brandishing both his weapons, walking down the middle of the following room, as if he didn't have a care in the world. Axton was a bit more careful, following Salvador only a couple of metres in front of the others.

Salvador entered the room that held the cells. He didn't notice anything at first, but once his eyes had adjusted to the slight difference in light, a slumped shape caught his eye in the corner of one of the cells. He banged his gun against it, and the form moved.

He stood, shocked. "Doctor Mallard?"

"Vault hunters?" she nearly cried, jumping to her feet. The happiness on her face was replaced by what looked like worry as the other vault hunters entered.

"No, no. You shouldn't have come here."

"Well, I'll just take that as thanks." replied Axton, shooting the lock.

"You don't understand." The doctor sobbed. "This is all my fault. It's a trap. has taken over from Handsome Jack as Hyperion's president.'

"Well duh." Replied Maya, rolling her eyes. This earnt little more than a glare from Lilith.

"He wants you dead. He captured me soon after you left, and I've been held here since. His loaders caught the bandits unawares, and slaughtered them all. The loaders are hidden, and they've deactivated the fast travel outside. Please, just get out while you can."

Axton peered round the door they'd come through. "Uh, guys? We have company." He quickly slammed the door closed. "There's loads out there. Me and Sal can't handle them all."

Salvador grunted. "Speak for yourself, _amigo._" He opened the door, and fired of a few shots. The loaders responded by firing back, and had Maya not phaselocked him out of the way, he would of resembled swiss cheese.

"Forget this, I'm calling Gaige. She can get some corrosive weapons together."

* * *

"You sure you've got plenty of corrosives?" Gaige asked. They'd headed for the Bloodshot's as soon as Maya had called, though Gaige wanted to go through Sanctuary first. "You bought me loads, we should stock up."

"Gaige, I've got plenty. You know Sal and Axton won't use them. So I only need three others. I've got a sniper and a SMG, but someone's gonna have to cope with a pistol."

"And what about me?"

Jack threw her his new pistol. "Aim for the limbs. I'm sorry, I know it's not much. But if they get any shots on you, call, and I'll be there. And don't take it as a gift, I need that thing back." He jumped out the car. "Come on. There's loaders to kill."

Oh damn. He was in that mood again. "Fine." She said, climbing out after him.

The first few rooms were relatively empty. Gaige digistructed Death Trap, and the few EXP loaders that bothered them were disassembled by machine and pistol long before getting near them. "So, what're you using?"

"This." Jack replied, his sword digistructing in his hand. "Come on." He rushed into the next room.

Gaige heard a few explosions and bangs, and stuck her head round the door. She'd had to stop for a second, her fumbling fingers unable to reload the revolver with the same speed and grace that Jack had done previously. Peeking slowly round the corner, she was met with the sight of two destroyed badass loaders, and Jack strapping his sword to his back, diagonally so it didn't touch the floor. "That was quick."

"Yeah." He agreed. Damn, she hated it when he was like this.

They ran through the compound, avoiding the majority of foes. Gaige threw a grenade, clearing the room that lead on to the cells. "Maya! It's us, let us in!"

The door opened, and both Jack and Gaige stepped in.

"Glad you're here." She looked at Jack. "Got guns?"

He digistructed a sniper, the one he'd used during the assault on the Atlas storage. He handed it to Mordecai, and digistructed a pistol into his hand. "Ooh, dibs" said Maya, pulling it from his grasp. He gave her an odd look, before doing the same for the SMG, and handing it to Lilith.

"I've never seen anyone want a pistol over a SMG. What's that all about?" He asked Maya.

Maya shrugged. "I quite like them. And look at it! It's beautiful." She cradled the gun like a baby for a second, before putting her finger through the trigger hoop.

"Jack?" This came from Doctor Mallard.

"Chloe!" He responded, walking towards her and wrapping his arms round her. "It's going to be okay. Come on, you're strong, you can do this." He rubbed his hand up and down her back slowly, trying to calm her.

She stopped sobbing, and began breathing normally. "Wow, he's good. We've been trying to calm her for ages." whispered Lilith to Gaige.

Gaige hated seeing another woman in his arms, but she supposed it couldn't be helped. If she was sobbing, she'd be a burden. "Alright, everyone ready?"

Everyone nodded, and headed for the door. Gaige's grenade had cleared it, but there was still a load of loaders between their position and the exit. The break had given her shield a chance to reload, and she felt able to rush recklessly again.

Axton and Salvador took the lead, followed by the rest, with Jack at the back. Having at the back would have made it a bit quicker, but she would have been open to attacks from behind.

Between them, they quickly and systematically cleared the rooms, taking only two minutes to reach the sinkhole again.

As everyone stepped through the door, except Jack, the door shot closed. A robotic voice spoke up. "Execute target."

"GO!" Shouted Jack through the door.

Everyone looked doubtful, but didn't say anything. There was no way to make it through those doors, but saying this out loud would leave Gaige depressed. They pressed on, destroying the remaining loaders. The caustic weapons helped, eating through the metal, reducing the enemies to nothing.

Reaching the exit, they jumped into the bandit technical, save Maya and Gaige, who hopped into the runner. Maya had to take the wheel, as Gaige refused to leave without Jack.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Shrieked Gaige as Maya pulled away. "We need to wait for him." Her angry scream had been replaced by sobbing.

"Sorry Gaige." Maya mumbled. "It's for your own good." With that, she headed to the fast travel.

* * *

They sat, silent, in Sanctuary. Gaige had been crying for the last two days, and Chloe wasn't holding up much better. They were all sore for the loss of Jack, but it had hit those two the hardest. They'd had to force Gaige to use the fast travel. It was only now that everyone realised how much of a change he'd made, his helpfulness in the smallest things.

Lilith was staring at the SMG, the last thing handed to her by Jack. They hadn't talked a great deal, but in the same way she tried to treat Gaige like a little sister, she'd thought of Jack like a brother. She couldn't speak for the others, heck she wasn't sure Axton and Salvador had even spoken to him. But she knew she'd miss him. She had just decided to talk to Gaige, try to give her the helping hand she never had while coping with the loss of Roland, when there was a knock on the door. Everyone ignored it, too depressed by the loss of a teammate to care if someone had a minor mission that needed settling. The sheriff could handle it.

Lilith walked down the stairs, and stuck her head through the doorway to the living room. Gaige was curled up on the sofa, wrapped around Jack's handgun. It was a weird thing to remember him with, but it was the last thing he'd given her. She'd stayed up all night, and it wasn't until the early hours of the morning after Jack had been left behind that she'd started crying.

The knock on the door again disrupted her train of thought, but she ignored it again. She sat next to Gaige. "How you doing?"

Gaige looked at her, and Lilith felt her stomach sink. Where before Gaige always had a mischievous glint in her eye, the willingness to live and destroy, now she looked empty. She was shaking, and the food the others had left for her remained untouched. "How does it look?" She snivelled.

"It'll be okay. He died keeping us safe Gaige. He was a great guy, and he loved you. I know it's hard, but we need to focus. How do you think he'd take it if we let ourselves be torn apart like this?"

Gaige burst into a fresh bout of tears, as the knock on the door interrupted their conversation again. Gaige stopped long enough to reply. "You best answer that." She put her head down again, staring into space.

Lilith sighed, and stood up. She walked slowly to the front door, dreading having to turn someone down. No one, herself included, was motivated enough to do anything right now. She opened the door, and terror filled her face. "Oh my God."

Before her, drenched in blood, stood Jack. The warm, sticky liquid poured from his mouth, and several large cuts across all of his body. A slight smile tugged at the corner of his lips, and his eyes lit up at seeing Lilith. His sword was being used as little more than a support, his left arm higher than the rest of his body, pushing his weight onto the giant blade. "Sorry." He grinned, slowly and shakily wiping the blood from his mouth. "Didn't mean to worry yo..." The last of his words was cut out, as his unconscious body hit the floor.


	21. 21 - Here's to Speedy Recoveries

Jack woke up in a strange room. He almost didn't recognise it, with its spotless white ceiling. It was a good ten minutes before he decided to move. His head was pounding, his muscles were weak, and he desperately needed a drink. He felt like he'd been hit by a truck.

After he realised the pain wasn't subsiding, he turned his head to the right. He suddenly recognised the room, with the medical equipment scattered over various shelves. It was obviously the tidying of Dr Zed, who's idea of a clean was piling up objects and a pressure washer. The next thing to hit him, besides how much it hurt to move, was that Gaige was asleep next to him. She was sat on a chair, with her top half slumped down on the space next to him that was left on the bed.

He tapped her on the head gently, taking a further two minutes for his muscles to react and move to his will. His teeth were crushing in his mouth, the pain making him grit them forcefully. When he'd finally managed to make contact, she began moving. "Huh?" As she stirred, raising her head and looking into his eyes, it looked as if a light had been turned on. "Jack!" She screamed, tears beginning to form, and a smile landing on her face instantly.

Dr Zed rushed in the room, and pulled her back from hugging him. "Wait no, lil lady. He's gonna be in a hole heap of pain already" She looked pissed, but she let it lie. "Now, could you grab an insta-health out of the vendor? It'll see you rolling!" He looked pleased with himself, then raised an eyebrow. "No? Ah, Marcus had a go to, just had to try. Now, hand that here." He took the cap off, and slid the needle into Jack's arm, injecting the red fluid into him.

The pain instantly subsided, albeit with some of his sense. Jack felt almost drunk, but he was grateful for the pain relief. He sat up, feeling the dizzying sensation worsening for a second, and took a deep breath. Gaige gave Zed a questioning look, and he sighed, before nodding.

Gaige launched herself at Jack, wrapping her arms around him, and sobbing into his neck. She didn't say anything, couldn't She just buried herself into him, taking in the feel of his skin, the rhythm of his breathing.

"Woah, woah, woah. What's up?" Jack asked, seemingly puzzled.

"I thought I'd lost you." Gaige said, in between deep breaths.

"Hey, never cry over me." It took effort to move his arm, but he managed. Breaking the embrace, he held her chin with his thumb and index finger. "If something happens to me, you move on. I will never want you to waste your life worrying." Gaige nodded her head, even though she clearly didn't mean it. "Hey, Doc. Can I go now?"

"Well, I'd rather I could patch you up a bit better. But what the hell, go on then."

Gaige helped him up, and supported some of his weight as he hobbled to HQ.

* * *

"Well, I'll be damned." Axton had always considered himself a tough guy, what with the being able to handle five bandits simultaneously. But coming out of a Hyperion trap single handed?

"You're walking already!"

"How long has it been?" asked Jack, rubbing his head.

"A week." answered Lilith, poking her head through the living room doorway.

"Ouch. Sorry guys."

"Sorry?" Laughed Maya, getting up from the sofa. "You saved our skins, then apologise? I don't get you kid." She helped Gaige move him to the sofa.

"Actually guys.." he said, sitting up. "I wanted to get a shower." He stood, one arm leaning on the sofa. He walked for the bathroom, keeping on hand to the wall.

"Why?" asked Salvador. "You haven't started stinking yet."

"If I've been out a week, it's been a week and two days since I've showered. I need one."

"He can barely stand up..." Maya whispered to Gaige. "Why don't you help him?"

Gaige turned red. "Help him shower?"

"Oh come on, don't tell me you two still haven't...Oh my God, you actually haven't! Oh, well then." Maya walked off, leaving Gaige looking like a tomato.

* * *

Jack just managed to have a shower, letting the warm water wash over him. It stung his cuts, but it wasn't too bad. Towelling off, he remembered he'd forgotten to grab some clothes. Normally, he'd just digistruct someone, similar to what he had on. But right now he wasn't in any state to use any of his abilities, so he opened the door. "Gaige?" Gaige came to the door, and noticed he was naked but for the towel around his waist. "I hate to ask you, but could you grab my clothes for me? I have some spares under the top of my bed.." Gaige nodded. "Thanks." He smiled.

A minute later, Gaige came down, and passed him the clothes through the bathroom door. He slid them on. A pair of fading blue jeans and a plain black shirt. He towelled his hair of a bit, the moisture making the top ruffled, and left the bathroom. Gaige was sat, alone, in the chair. Jack plonked himself down on the sofa, and leaned back. He smiled at Gaige. "Thanks gorgeous, you're a life saver."

"I'm a life saver? You just took a week to recover because you saved our lives, and I'm a life saver for bringing you clothes?" She got up and sat on the sofa, next to Jack.

"Well, that. And that the one reason I had to keep going was to see your beautiful smile again." He kissed her neck, and she felt her face warm. His lips brushed gently up, every skin cell coming alive with his touch. He repositioned himself, and gently touched his lips against hers. She couldn't hold it anymore, and forced hers to meet his, kissing him passionately. Their lips melded together, and she finally felt the relief she had been seeking. He was home. He was finally home. And he was hers.

"Guys, we need to..er.." Lilith walked into the door. Her eyes flicked around, looking anywhere but to the moment she'd just ruined. "Sorry. I didn't mean to..uh.."

"Don't worry about it." Jack laughed. "So, what do we need to do?"

"Right." Lilith snapped back out of the state of embarrassment she was in. "We need to find somewhere for Dr. Mallard to stay. Apparently, she released the animals into the wild after the Son of Mothrakk was killed, so there isn't any reason for her to stay there any longer. She's been staying here, but she needs a permanent place."

Jack looked thoughtful for a second. "People are upping and outing of Sanctuary a lot recently. Since Handsome Jack's gone down, people don't need the protection of Sanctuary any more. Even if other people have come in and bought up the houses, someone else is gonna leave sooner or later. We just have to keep an eye out for people looking to leave, and she can live there."

"And what until then?"

"Oh come on." Jack rolled his eyes. "You girls have plenty of room up there. If you need an extra bed, take mine, I'll have the couch. It ain't gonna be a mass of trouble for you guys keeping her up for a little while." Lilith agreed, as did Gaige, albeit grudgingly. Since their first meeting, she'd disliked the woman. She guessed she just needed to make it clear Jack was taken. "So where is she?" he asked.

"Upstairs." replied Lilith. "She was upset about you too. She's catching up on her sleep."

"Fair play." replied Jack. Gaige was glad he didn't suggest waking her. She wanted him to herself for a while. "Anyway. I'm starving."

"Well duh, you can't have eaten in over a week. Why didn't you get something sooner?"

"I had..er..something I wanted to do first." He looked at Gaige, and they both blushed slightly. It was weird, seeing Jack blush, but it happened to everyone. "Anyway. Anyone up for going to Moxxi's? I could hit some pizza hard."

Everyone agreed, save Salvador and Mordecai, who had already brought beer with them and wanted to stay inside. Axton was thinking of joining them, but if he'd been in the same position as Jack, he knew he'd want people to come, so he followed them all out the door.

* * *

The Pandoran sun was low in the sky, the dark starting to creep around the edges of the horizon. They took the two booths closest to the door, to spare Jack the little bit of distance. Flopping down onto the seat, Jack leant his head back, and sighed. The insta-health had begun wearing off, and though it was less of a pain to move, he still felt like he'd been hit by a sprinting bullymong.

"Hey, sugar." Moxxi walked up to the booth, placing a hand on his shoulder. He winced slightly, but she didn't seem to notice. What can I get you?"

Jack asked for a stinger to go with his pizza. The high alcohol content that developed from the treatment of the stinging cactus' liquids would hopefully dull the pain a little. Everyone else got rakk ale, relaxing for the first time in days. Jack was sat on one seat, over the table from Gaige, with Lilith and Maya sitting opposite Axton across from them. Moxxi got the drinks, and sat down next to Jack, to the surprise of the others, and the annoyance of the other customers. "Bar's closed for a bit, boys." she called. Looking at Jack, she asked "So, where have you been, sugar? I thought you'd come visit me, it gets so lonely." She winked and nudged him, before taking down a gulp of ale.

"He was at Zed's." Gaige interjected. "He was trapped in a Hyperion ambush for two days."

"Ooh, I like a man who's brave." Then, she seemed to notice the several cuts that decorated his body. "Ouch. Hope you gave them a beating."

"Yeah, I did."

"How did you actually get out?" asked Axton, intrigued. He thought his escape from Nine-Toes' pit had been impressive, but a sealed room with a bunch of loaders and little cover was something he'd hate to face.

Jack shrugged. "Luck."

"Oh, come on. I remember that little acrobatic act at the Atlas store. You can't put it down to luck."

"Well, I suppose. I can't really remember. I just remember machine parts everywhere." He stared at his drink for a while, as if it held every answer he'd ever searched for. Then, he shrugged. "That's it. I just can't remember." Everyone was a bit frustrated by this, but not surprised. When you're running on adrenaline, it sometimes get's hard to focus on your actions.

Axton looked put out, but Moxxi seemed indifferent. "Well sugar, as long as you gave them a spanking." She drew out the word 'spanking', making the silence oddly awkward as she always did. "Anyway," she drained the rest of her drink. "The customers are getting rowdy. Not that I don't like a bit of aggression." She winked at Axton, and walked off.

As they were chatting, discussing what missions they could take, and how to avoid another ambush, Dr. Mallard walked in. "Uh, hey." She rubbed her head, pushing her obviously just-washed hair away from her face. Axton had to admit, after she'd washed up a bit and changed into some clothes she'd borrowed from Maya, she did look quite attractive. The blue top hugged her figure, showing off her curves and ample breasts. Her black jeans were also tight. It didn't leave much to the imagination, but any man who complained most likely swung the other way. Her eyes lit up as she saw Jack. "You're alright!" She ran and wrapped her arms round him, holding him for a while. "Oh god, I was worried you'd die! Thank you so much!"

"No problem." Laughed Jack, letting go of her. "Glad to see you're doing alright. Didn't get hurt by the loaders?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm alright. They didn't do anything too bad, just a few bruises."

"Good" replied Jack, smiling. "Want a drink?"

She nodded, sitting down. "Mordecai and Salvador left to go back to Mordecai's. Sounds like they already ran out of booze."

Jack called for a glass of water for himself, and a rakk ale for Chloe. She sniffed the bottle uncertainly, but took a healthy gulp nonetheless. "So, sweetcheeks." He glanced at Lilith. "Do we have any new missions?"

She nodded her head. "How did you know? I was going to keep it until tomorrow, but yes."

Every looked her way, intrigued. "Okay, come on, tell us." Axton was like a pleading six year old.

"Yeah, come on Lil, sooner the better."

Lilith sighed. "Fine. Well, here's the gist of it..."


	22. 22 - Jack The Impaler

"Well, that's err..."

"A lot more than we get paid for?"

"Yeah."

"Come on guys." Lilith sighed. They'd taken this exactly the way she'd suspected. "I've told you about Zer0's investigation, and that we need money to prepare. There aren't many big jobs right now, and this 'Shade' character seems to have a few jobs. I know it's out of the way, but I've already put it's location into the fast travel. We'll go there first thing tomorrow."

"And what do we need to do exactly?"

"I have no idea. All he said was help."

* * *

Jack was woken by a tap on the shoulder. He opened his eyes, and found them staring into Gaige's. "Hey." He smiled.

"Hey." She replied, a grin spreading across her face. "Come on, up and showered."

Jack abliged, quickly showering, drying off, and changing into a pair of black jeans and a grey shirt, before brushing his teeth over the sink. Smoking before sleeping left a bad taste in his mouth, and he was glad for it to be replaced by the minty burning provided by the toothpaste. "Great, ready to go?" He asked, heading to the front door.

"Actually...no." replied Gaige, sitting down on the sofa. "We've still got a few hours."

"Then why wake me?" queried Jack, cocking his head. He was tired, and being waken up early was not high on his to-do list.

"Well, I thought we could just talk for a while. I've missed you."

Jack grinned. "I've missed you too." He sat on the chair, and Gaige gave him a disappointed look. "What?" he asked, puzzled.

Gaige shook her head, then smiled. "So, how are you feeling?"

Jack shrugged. "Tired." He laughed. "But no helping that. How about you?"

Gaige felt bad about waking him, but she hadn't slept, and going to sleep now would mean not being awake for the mission. Truth was, she'd stayed up all night fiddling with her ECHO so that she could locate the other's at any given time. Even Jack's, despite it's odd design to fit as an earpiece, was compatible to the upgrade she'd provided solely for her own ECHO. But, if she told Jack she hadn't slept all night, he'd realise she'd been busy. "Same, really. Sorry for waking you, I guess I was just excited."

Jack looked suspiciously at her for a second, his eyes searching for a sign of the truth. When he decided it wasn't really of great importance, he let the matter slide, and continued the conversation. "It's fine. It's a bad habit oversleeping, anyway. It's probably for the best." He yawned loudly, stretching his arms at the same time. After the immediate sleepiness had passed, he turned to Gaige again. "So, what d'ya wanna talk about?"

"Well, anything really." She really didn't know. She just loved talking to him, the way he took everything calmly and laughed it off.

And laugh he did. "Well, what's your story? You know about me before I turned up, but I know unfortunately little about you."

Gaige explained about how she'd been cheated out of first place in the science fair,and how her 'anti-bullying' creation, which was now Death Trap, had picked up on the winner's boasting and killed her. "So...yeah. I killed the daughter of a VIP rich bastard." She almost spat. Since arriving on Pandora, she hadn't thought about it much, but the hatred for those responsible for her separation had festered and intensified. "But that bitch deserved it." She added.

Jack, who had looked sympathetic up until this point, chuckled. "Well, that's quite a story. Jeez, that sucks. I hope some day it quiets down."

Gaige nodded. "Though I do have the highest bounty here. It's unlikely it's going anywhere in the next hundred years."

Jack shook his head. "Nah. Second highest now." He winked. Gaige had forgotten he had been an escapee from the projects of Hyperion. It was unsurprising they'd be desperate to take him back, or annihilate him, at near any cost.

"So..you said I know about you, but I don't know that much. I mean, you've explained about Hyperion, and your family, and a bit about Zer0. But what about other than that? It's been four years, you must've done more than that."

"Not really." Jack shrugged. "Some assassinations take some serious time. I've managed to avoid taking long on any, I think my longest was about a week. I was kind of hoping doing contract on contract would build up some funds."

"Wow. Brrrr." She shivered slightly, changing the subject. This morning, she'd worn a white tank top with blue jeans, trying to keep up the change in her appearance. Unfortunately, this left open to the chilling touch of the elements.

Jack chuckled, and stood up. Reaching past her, he picked up his folded-up grey hoodie, which he'd evidently used as a pillow. Wrapping it around her shoulders, he plonked down on the sofa next to her, and reached an arm around her. She leaned into him, resting her head on him. "Better?"

She nodded, yawning. Closing her eyes, she listened to the rhythm of his breathing, not realising it was like a lullaby, pulling her slowly into the realms of sleep.

* * *

"Gaige?" She woke with a start. "Well, that took long enough."

Lilith's laugh pierced through the hazy veil of sleep that had until seconds ago been resting gently upon her. "Wh..what?" She yawned and stretched.

"You fell asleep." Jack was grinning, as if he found this highly amusing.

"Oh fuck." She'd tried exactly to avoid this. She stood up, and trudged up the stairs to get her guns.

"Oh, hey Gaige." Maya was at the top of the stairs. "Looking for your guns? Already grabbed them." She handed Gaige an incendiary SMG, a slagged shotgun, and a pistol. Gaige looked questioningly at the gun, then remembered. It was the one Jack had handed her during the storm on the Bloodshot's compound. She walked back down the stairs, just before Maya, and handed Jack the gun back.

He looked surprised. "Cheers. Wondered where this'd got to ."

"I had it, sorry." She yawned again.

"Right, we ready?" Asked Lilith, checking her guns. Everyone gave nods. "Mordecai and Salvador aren't coming. They may turn up later, but they're sleeping off a hangover. Again." She said this last word louder, as if it really annoyed, but didn't surprise, her. "But we should be able to handle it."

Gaige followed the others to the fast travel. One by one, they each used it, heading to the location labelled 'Oasis." Lilith, Axton, then Maya. Before he hit the button, Jack turned to her. "You okay?"

"Yeah." She was tired. Dammit, she'd wanted to stay awake for just this reason. They could have to jump into action as soon as they reached Oasis, and she needed to wake up before that.

Before hitting the button, Jack turned to her, wrapping his right arm round her waist, and brought his lips to hers. It only lasted a few seconds. But now, she felt awake.

* * *

The fast travel left them in a small, clear area. There as a catch-a-ride, but it didn't seem to work. Lilith lead the way, following the relatively narrow path down a hill.

"Hello?" The voice coming form Lilith's ECHO didn't quite sound sane. "Oh,new friends! I seem to be stuck with these pirate's, could you give me a hand?"

As they rounded the corner, they could see what he meant. Ahead of them lay a small town. The streets were covered in a layer of sand, and the filthy buildings that lined them were bare. The road lead in a straight line for a short while, before turning of right, to an area they could not see, and left, to a slightly raised patch. Besides the pirates, there was no sign of any inhabitants. Or living ones, at any rate.

Jack took first shot, crouching and getting three with two shots from a shock-charged rifle. The other pirates reacted instantly, some charging ahead like psychos, and some taking cover. The ones who rushed recklessly were near instantly destroyed by the vault hunters, all of whom were brandishing their SMG's, with the exception of Axton and his trusty Dahl rifle. Jack moved forward, swapping to his pistol and unleashing a flurry of shots at the visible enemies. He took down two before having to reload.

Axton reached the border of the town first, the dusty trail turning into paved streets, albeit still dust-ridden. He deployed his turrets, it's RPG's firing almost instantly to take out a small group of pirates. Maya phaselocked one, then swung him in a wide arc, catching another and crushing them against the wall. Lilith seemingly disappeared, appearing at the other end of the street a few seconds later, a trail of crumpled, half-conscious foes scattered in her wake. Gaige quickly digistructed Death Trap, who cleared up the remains of the sirens with but a few swings of his massive claw-like arms. Within seconds of his appearance, the pirate's eyes were staring at their own limbs from across the street. "WOOH! Go DT!" She called, encouraging the basic AI.

"Wow, you guys are awesome!" Came the weirdly insane voice again. "Though it looks like No-Beard's decided to take care of you. Come and visit me when you're done. Hurry, friends!"

"Who is that guy?" asked Gaige. "I think he might be skag shit insane."

"Yeah." Agreed Lilith. "But he's paying to save him. So we're here."

A laugh interrupted their conversation, and they swung their heads round to see a tall, muscular pirate, with most of his face covered by what looked like a dirty bandanna, and a pirates hat atop his head. Both his arms were raised in a jeering motion, and in his right hand was what seemed to be a club. No one was able to tell from this distance wether the club was part of his arm, or wether he just wielded it by choice, but this became even more difficult as he launched himself from his platform.

He fell through the air, cackling and poorly-thought-out threats spewing from his jaws, when Jack disappeared. They heard a grunt from No-Beard's direction and, as he was about three metres from the ground, Jack materialised, with his left arm loosely at his side as normal. This wasn't instantly noticed, however, as in his right hand, he held his large sword, vertically and directly below No-Beard.

With a half-scream, half-shout, No-Beard's velocity impaled him on the sword, passing directly through the centre of him and penetrating his skull. Jack swung his arm in an arc, so the sword was diagonally downwards, and the body slipped off. Instead of de-digistructing it, he wiped the blood off on one of the corpse's jackets, and lined it up with his back. As he did, a band digistructed diagonally across his chest and back, holding the sword in place as he let go.

"Quick enough?" He asked casually, turning and walking by a nearby stand. "Shade, I presume?"

"You guys are badasses!" This time the voice didn't come from the ECHO. Bobbing up and down behind a stall was a short man. A scruffy-looking Hawaiian shirt covered his torso, with a pair of khaki shorts. His face was round, an unnatural grin plastered across, as if he'd stolen it from a clown. Green-tinted sunglasses covered his eyes and the surrounding skin, and his teeth were clamped down on what appeared to be a bottle rocket. Rolled back from the teeth were his lips, which were dried and cracked, and almost matching the colour of the fishermans hat perched on his head.

"Yeah, great. So, is that all?"

"No, no, no! You can't leave yet, friends! Badasses like yourselves simply must go after Captain Blade's treasure!"

Lilith sighed. It was getting late, she needed a shower, and this guy was giving her the creeps. It was relatively obvious he was batshit insane from the moment his voice made contact with their ears, but they hadn't realised quite how insane.

"Come on! Just ask any of my other friends!" Shade motioned to three people, leant against varying objects. Lilith walked to the closest, inspecting it, when she realised they were dead. They seemed to have been dead a long time, flies gathering in small clouds around their corpses. Each one was tied up to an object, making it appear to be standing, and next to them was a speakerphone.

"Uh...Maya, Axton, could you get on that?" she asked, hoping her physical presence was enough to draw attention away from how creepy this was.

"Sure!" replied Axton, the words gliding easily enough from his mouth. Maya's stare could have melted a steel beam, but since she'd already been volunteered, she didn't have much choice in the matter.

"Great!" Lilith spun on her heels, followed by Jack and Gaige. "Don't be too long. If it drags on, take a break back at Sanctuary. And report in when you have news."

"Alright." Axton rolled his eyes. He was former military, and now a vault hunter. She was a vault hunter. That put him above her when it came to experiences, as far as he was concerned, and being briefed so thoroughly, as if it was his first time, really got to him.

Maya and Axton turned back to Shade, whilst the ever-courageous , ever-calm leader of the Crimson Raiders that is Lilith sprinted back to the fast travel as rapidly as she could. She even considered phasewalking at one point, but that wouldn't do a lot for Axton and Maya's confidence.

* * *

The first thing Jack noticed when the blue lights had faded from his vision was that the siren was far too glad to be back. "Jeez, you look like you've seen a ghost." he pointed out, instinctively reaching a hand for Gaige's as she digistructed to his right.

"Didn't you see them?" the blank looks that met her sight were an obvious enough answer. "The corpses? The microphones?"

Both Jack and Gaige worked out what she meant. "You mean..? No way!" Gaige had to laugh. She felt bad for the commando and the siren. Shade was obviously off his rocker.

"Well, I'm thirsty from all that sand." Jack said, licking his lips as if to emphasise the point. "Moxxi's anyone?"

"Hmm, well, if you're buying..." Lilith winked and nudged him. She took off at a slightly less ferocious pace than that with which she'd headed from Oasis, but it was still fairly brisk. She stopped dead in the doorway, and Jack and Gaige caught up pretty quickly.

"Hey Lil, what's u.." He didn't need to finish. Before him, on two of the bar's poorly-kept stools, was Zer0. And with him was a face that, of the three newer arrivals, only Gaige wouldn't recognise.


End file.
